My Wish
by jc52185
Summary: This story is set soon after Dead and Gone. Sookie, Eric and friends are still trying to deal with the aftermath of the Fae War and the takeover of Louisiana. When waitressing one night, Sookie is having a discussion with a customer and makes a wish, not understanding the repercussions of doing so. Be careful what you wish for... Told mostly from Eric's POV.
1. Prologue

**My Wish**

'Stupid, fucking vampires,' I thought as I brought a round of drinks to one of my tables. I had received a familiar flash of anger from Eric through our bond that was usually followed by a text message to inform me he wasn't able to see me yet again.

Sure enough, I felt the telltale vibration of my cell letting me know that I had a text. This was the drill that had gone on almost every night for the past two months. The only nights they hadn't been were two early at the start. Not seeing or barely hearing from Eric after he had left following a week of staying with me subsequent to the Fae war, I went to Fangtasia to try to see him on my own. The first night I went, Pam met me outside to tell me Eric was too busy with Felipe and Victor to meet me at the moment. The second time, I only got halfway there before Eric called me to essentially tell me to turn around and not come to Fangtasia again. That was the only time in the last two months I had actually spoken with him.

I got it, or at least I tried really hard to understand it. His Queen had been killed. His state was taken over. He as well as many more nearly met their final deaths when Nevada took over Louisiana. I could have been killed, or worse, during the takeover. I knew that, so part of me understood that Eric had to play nice right now. He was securing not only his own safety, but also the safety of all of us remaining in the state. Truly, a huge part of me understood that.

Still, I was supposed to be his wife, though tricked into marrying him by simply handing him a knife. It may have been for my protection, but I was hoping it would turn into more. I was hoping it meant more to him than just my safety. I was hoping… I was really just hoping.

Eric had stayed with me for a week once I was released from the hospital after being kidnapped by the damn fairies. A week had been long enough for him to make sure my wounds were healing due to the aid of his blood. A week was long enough to convince me that a part of him, even with all his memories, cared for me. It was long enough for me to realize that maybe the two of us together were an actual possibility; long enough for me to see the Eric I had fallen in love with when he had amnesia was still there. I understood he was a part of Eric; it was long enough for me to recognize that I loved the other parts of Eric as well.

Then practically nothing for almost two months had me convinced we never really stood much of a chance.

Nevertheless, I was still hoping.

I was the closest to the door when another customer walked in, so I seated her in my section and gave her a menu. I didn't know her, something unusual for Merlotte's, especially on a Tuesday night. We had mostly regulars here on weeknights, sometimes a few others from town who might have forgotten to thaw out dinner. Rarely did someone from out of town come in during weeknights. I didn't think too much about it though as I introduced myself and took her drink order.

Going to get her iced tea, I thought about my situation with Eric. Again. It felt as if that was all I was doing lately. It had to end. If I was honest with myself, the flashes of anger and text messages every night were really starting to get to me. I knew he was an important vampire. I knew we were just involved in a hostile takeover and he had to play nice. Was I not important enough to him for a phone call once in a while or a visit once in two months? I saw nothing of this situation changing, and, as much as it pained me, I could no longer sit and wait for the day that Eric Northman decided he could finally grace me with his presence.

Hell, who was I kidding? I'd probably still be waiting, but at least without the nightly disappointing texts I could pretend I wasn't.

I brought the drink back to the new customer and took her food order. I made sure my other tables were happy, put in her order, and told Sam I was taking a break. I needed to more often after the torture, and Sam allowed me to use his office so I could sit.

I looked at the text just to be sure before I called him, but wasn't at all surprised when once more it read that tonight was a no go, but he hoped he could come by tomorrow. Yeah, I wouldn't be holding my breath for that one. He may not need to breathe, but I certainly did. Taking a deep breath, I called his cell hoping he would answer. If he picked up, it could change things.

Of course, he didn't pick up, and I took a deep breath as the call rolled into voicemail and readied myself for what I was about to say.

"Look, Eric," I started before taking a deep breath, and then another one as I felt tears start to fill my eyes. "You don't need to text me every night just to tell me you can't see me. At this point, I don't even expect you to be able to see me. I appreciated your staying to help me after the war and maybe I had hoped," I paused, hoping he would miss the change in my voice. I swallowed before changing my thoughts, not able to go on with the one I started. "You really don't owe me, Eric. I simply handed you a knife. Nothing more. Do what you need to do to stay safe. I'll see you when you are able. Or want to, I guess," I said before I hung up quickly because the thought I had barely let cross my mind in these two months surfaced. If he truly wanted to see me, if I was truly important to him, he would have found a way to in these last two months. _Eric Northman always did what Eric Northman always wanted._

I took another deep breath, wiped the stray tear from my eye, and headed out of Sam's office. Slapping on my 'Crazy Sookie' smile, I picked up the customer's order and took it to her, and then checked my tables to see if anyone else needed anything. A few tables needed their drinks refilled and one needed their check.

Moving around Merlotte's was good. Kept me busy and if I was busy, I wasn't really thinking. Not thinking now was a good thing.

I took a few pills as the ache in my thigh grew. I still had another hour on the shortened shift Sam had arranged for my return in the work schedule. Walking back to my section, I had to move quickly to avoid being hit by an overzealous pool player that sent my leg straight into a table. 'Stupid fucking fairies,' I thought as a jolt of pain shot down my leg. Fortunately, I fell right into one of our booths seeing as I didn't think trying to get up off the floor would be much of an option at that time. Even getting up from the booth right then seemed like a stretch.

I waved Sam off when I saw him coming over to check on me. I mean, really, what could he do? It's not as if he could magically take away the pain, and if he could turn back time, well, then he'd really been holding out on me! If he could turn back time I'm not exactly sure I would want my pain to be what he fixed. As frustrating as it was, it got me that one week with Eric.

I was just hoping it might have lead into more.

"You okay?" the booth's occupant asked. It was the customer I hadn't recognized.

"Sorry about that," I told her. "I was in a car accident," I explained, using my cover story. "My leg still gives me a bit of trouble."

She nodded. "You said your name was Sookie, right?"

It was my turn to nod as she said, "I'm Anya. Sorry to hear about your accident. I bet you wish it didn't happen."

"You could say that again," I told her while thinking that was a weird way to phrase it. I doubted many car accident victims actually wanted their accidents to happen. I wondered how long until the pain in my leg would let me stand again.

"I don't mean to pry," Anya said, "but you looked upset earlier. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything's fine," I told her and decided if she could ask a perfect stranger questions, so could I. "What brings you to Bon Temps?" I asked.

She giggled a bit and asked, "Is it that obvious I'm not from around here?"

"Small town. Everyone knows everyone."

"Seems like a nice area though."

"It certainly has its moments," I told her.

"I needed a break and a small town seemed to be the best place to get one. Things got a bit complicated as life sometimes tends to," she told me.

"Preaching to the choir on that one," Boy was she!

"Bit of a bad break-up and I decided I needed a bit of a change of scenery."

I stayed quiet with that one. I wasn't even sure if what I did with Eric could be considered a break-up. Either time.

When she asked me if I had a boyfriend, I must have had some expression on my face because she quickly apologized.

"It's just complicated," I explained to her. That could win the award for understatement of the year.

"Sometimes I just wish I could go back and change things, you know?"

I nodded. Change could be good, but what decision could I actually change?

"Excuse me, but I need to see if I can get back to work yet," I said. I tried to stand up using the table to take most of my weight. I slowly adjusted my weight to my leg and found I could stand with relative ease. I tried to take a step and found I could. "Well, I will let you get back to eating," I told Anya. "Thanks for the table."

"Anytime," I wasn't sure what to make of the look on her face as she said it. It was almost as if she was disappointed. Getting over a break-up, maybe she was just lonely.

The last half hour of my shift went by quickly, which was the good thing. My time was filled with drink refills and condiment refills. The bad thing was such mundane tasks allowed my mind to wander.

Not willing to allow myself to think of Eric there in fear of tears that may inevitably fall, I found myself thinking back to what Anya said earlier. If I could, what would I wish to change in my life?

Would any other decision have placed me in a better situation than the one I was in currently? Even if Hadley had never met Sophie Anne and let the cat out of the bag regarding my telepathy, who's to say that another vampire that discovered it might have been better to deal with? If I hadn't fallen for Eric while he had amnesia, I would like to believe that I wouldn't have gone back to Bill, but could I be sure? That thought caused me to shudder as that was the last thing I would ever want.

Anya must have been thinking about it, too, because when I brought her the check, she asked, "Hey, Sookie, if you could wish one thing, what would it be?"

I looked at her and said while turning away, "I don't know really. Maybe I would just wish I could go back to when things were simpler."

"Done," I heard behind me with certainty and a slightly more gravelly voice.

What? I turned back to face her and saw that her appearance had changed drastically. I dropped my shields and realized I should have done so much sooner. "Oh shit," I said just as my world went black.

 **Hello dear readers. Here is my next story and I hope you like this little sneak peak. I hope to start regular updates in a few weeks, as MsBuffy has been kind enough to agree to edit as I go with this one. Many thanks to her. This one has been up on my wordpress for a bit and is a few chapters in. I had not been able to upload here for awhile. So read it here or read it there (I am under the same name on WP). I'll try to update every few days here to catch up and then it will go to weekly updates.**

 **This one is rated primarily for some language and stuff much later in the story.**

 **Tiny crossover with BtVS, here. I borrowed a character or two for this story.**

 **This one will be a bit different from my other stories if you are familiar with them. I do hope you enjoyed it.**


	2. Chapter 1

Two cents. I had been looking at the last seven years worth of financial reports for Area Five because there was a discrepancy. The discrepancy was two cents. I spent the last three hours trying to figure out where the hell these two cents had gone. Why, you may ask? Because the new king of Louisiana wanted to know where the two cents had gone. I was firing my accountant for making me deal with this shit. It was better than me eating him. For him anyway…

Seated in my office were Felipe, the new king himself, and Victor, who didn't seem happy that I had made it through the takeover. He wanted me dead. Where exactly my new king fit into that equation, I wasn't quite sure. That left me sifting through paperwork while I could be doing something far more pleasurable.

Stupid reasons such as these were why I hadn't seen Sookie in two months. Oh, they had a list, a list that seemed to be growing longer and longer with each night that passed. Of course, they were all insignificant things that really should not have had to be dealt with or never even looked at in the first place, but I was in a very tenuous position. I had barely survived the takeover, I was more than aware how close it had been to going in the complete, opposite direction, and I would have happily fought my way out of it and dealt with the consequences for myself.

However, I no longer thought simply for myself, and feeling Sookie in the room with me, feeling her fear at how things might end, I had played it safe. Now I had to deal with all the consequences.

Consequences such as searching for the missing two cents, or the fact that the Fangtasia dance floor was bigger, by millimeters, than the one on the original blueprints. Felipe, well, Victor really, had been 'concerned' about fire codes. There was one vampire who didn't check in the night he arrived because it was too close to dawn. He had left a message informing us that he was in my Area, and he arrived to check in the following night. Apparently, I was lax in my enforcement of rules.

These were the reasons I was stuck playing nice with the vampires who practically demolished my state. I was not a happy vampire. Unfortunately to keep me, and most importantly, those whom I cared for safe, I had to act the one for a while.

"We did have a thief a few years back," I told Felipe while not giving Victor any attention. He was not my better and I wouldn't treat him as one. "That may be where the difference lies. He was discovered and executed."

No need to mention the real reason he was finally dead was because he had attacked Sookie, and I had a big problem with that, even back then.

"It wouldn't hurt to go over the numbers once again. You really need to be certain that there was no other reason for the missing money," Victor said rather smugly. Missing money. As if it was thousands of dollars rather than a measly two cents.

I had a vision of me pulling two cents out of my pocket and just throwing them at Victor; quite possibly hard enough for them to slice directly through his neck decapitating the damn vampire. Of course, with the way my nights had been going, Felipe would then cite me for simply having a dirty floor.

It had been this way every night. I would explain situations, fix problems with my attentions, and explanations went to Felipe, yet it was Victor who responded. I was left to wonder exactly who had been running the states, especially Arkansas and Nevada given that Felipe had been in Area Five for such an extended time.

"I have reviewed the paperwork extensively myself four times tonight. There is no other explanation."

"Then perhaps we should review the last ten years," Once again, Victor had made that response and ludicrous suggestion. I was definitely not about to review any additional paperwork. It took long enough just to go back seven years. Again.

Doing so also meant I would not be seeing Sookie again tonight. I allowed my anger to grow at that thought momentarily before I sent her what had become my usual text, and told her that I wouldn't be able to see her tonight, yet again.

I had all I could take of Victor being Felipe's mouthpiece. If I was to survive the new monarchy and continue to be able to protect those in my retinue, I needed to be certain as to just who ran the show. "Felipe, I must ask. Why the hell Victor has been attending these meetings? Being just another Sheriff, what possible need could he require of the knowledge of how my Area runs?"

I did not like the smile that adorned Victor's face at my question. Felipe stunned me when he said, "I'm surprised it has taken you two months to question it."

"You mean that all of it was just some sort of test?" Felipe nodded. "What the fuck have you been trying to prove?"

"I have been attempting to discover just how you may react to certain situations. I must say your patience and control when so much was on the line has been astounding! You play well-behaved most splendidly."

"Quite like a well-trained dog," Victor said smugly with a pompous look upon his face. A growl was heard throughout the room, and it took me a moment to realize it was emanating from me. I needed all of that control Felipe had mentioned earlier to not leap over my desk and attack the both of them. That would get us nowhere, well, other than getting me finally dead. I was briefly distracted when I felt the phone in my pocket vibrate. As I took it out, I saw it was Sookie calling me. I inwardly groaned as I knew there was no way I could answer it.

Felipe ignored my growling, or maybe he just wanted to try to take my attention away from Victor so I did not kill him on the spot while he continued, "It would be useful to have you to act as an ambassador when necessary with such notable skills. As for why Victor has been involved? I decided with having so many states that being spread so thin was an unneeded liability. As a strategist, you would understand the value of needing each state to be able to stand on their own. For that reason, an acting regent will have virtual control of the state in order to be able to stop a potential takeover, and to assist it in running more smoothly while I work to unite them all. I have assigned Victor to fill that role for Louisiana."

In that second, I wished I actually had two pennies in my pocket so I could hurl them at Victor. Victor would not control me. He would see his true death before that happened. That was when I started to plan the final death of Victor Madden. I would have to walk a fine line and play it very carefully, but it was something that would happen, and the sooner, the better. He would be aware of something though; he knew I was not one to lie back and take it. The situation required subtlety. It would take the most careful of planning and it would begin immediately. "I see that you have taken in all the information, Eric. I will leave you for now. Just know for the time being you are to report to Victor. His orders are to be followed as if they were my own," Felipe said as he walked out of the room. Grudgingly, I stood as he left as a sign of respect. I did not wish to give Felipe an outright reason to doubt my loyalty, at least until I saw Victor finally dead.

The situation did nothing to help me figure out who was really running the state. Was it truly Felipe, or was he simply playing figurehead for Victor? That would need to be determined. It would tell me who was first going to meet their true death.

After Felipe left and I was seated again, Victor rose from his chair. It bothered me to stay seated, but I had to. It would show Victor that I had acknowledged his position. I would acknowledge it, but wouldn't follow it. That was for damn sure!

"As for now, simply run the Area as you did for Sophie Anne. I will monitor how things were done in the past and make changes how I see fit," Victor said haughtily.

His choice of words was not lost on me, 'how he saw fit.' Not what was best for the state, but he would change things simply because he could. I simply nodded, not trusting any words that would come out of my mouth.

"You should expect to be monitored by me very closely for the next few weeks, and that will include the other Sheriffs as well. I expect nightly updates for those ones when I won't be here in personal attendance. I also expect weekly financial reports." The grin on his face told me that as much as I did not like what he had said so far, I definitely would despise the next words out of his mouth.

"New Orleans still needs to be built up, but with tourism down, the city itself won't fund the rebuilding. As yours remains the most profitable Area in the state at the moment, I am upping your monthly tithe to the state from 5 to 20%. Do not forget that would be in addition to the 5% owed to Felipe."

That meant that I would have to drastically increase what my vampires owed me in order to be able to keep Area Five afloat just to be able to pay the tithes. That would not have a favorable outcome, and would turn some against me. In setting my own against me, it would only aid Victor as the situation between us escalated. I knew it, and judging by the look on Victor's face, he knew precisely what he was doing…

'I cannot finally kill him yet' became my mantra within the last few moments. I might not be able to follow my mantra if Victor did not leave my sight very shortly, perhaps within the next few seconds. "I will let you decide how to best handle your Area with those new stipulations," he told me while he looked straight at me.

As a sign of respect, I should have stood for him as he left just as I did for Felipe seeing as Victor had been declared regent. I stayed seated. That act was not lost on Victor as he turned and said, "It would be a shame for you to have used all that control Felipe commended you for if it caused you to make decisions that resulted in the suffering of others."

"Do not threaten me, Victor," I told him. "You will not enjoy the consequences."

"It would be a damn shame," he repeated as he left the room.

I slammed my hands down on my desk. The threat was obviously meant for Sookie, principally given Victor's actions when she was taken by the fairies. If it were just Victor and I, and if I did not have others to think of, killing him would require finesse, but it would be much simpler. Throw in Sookie, and the simplicity went out the window! The finesse had to be multiplied. She was so much more fragile.

I took out my phone to call Pam and saw that when Sookie called earlier, she left a voicemail. Listening to it, I couldn't help it as my fist grew tighter and tighter as I listened to her words, heard as her voice started to shake while she began losing her composure, but was determined to not let me hear it. It may not have been what first brought my attention to Sookie, but her bravery, her strength, her fire! That was what was kept my attention on her! The fact that it sounded as if I was making her lose some of that killed me. I was just as determined to show her that I did want more, that her words had not gone unheard. At the end of the message, I completely closed my fist, and my phone crumbled to the floor.

Yet another reason for Victor Madden to meet the true death.

I picked up the phone on my desk and called Pam to come to Fangtasia. With what was happening with Victor, I wanted one of us there at all times while it was open. At the moment, that someone would not be me. I was too uneasy to deal with the vermin that night.

I got into my car and started the drive to my house while I thought over all that had happened so far that night. I would be in a far better position if it was Victor who ran the states and used Felipe as a figurehead. That way when I killed him, I wouldn't have killed the registered king. I had a feeling though that it truly was Felipe who ran the show. What I was not certain of was if that meant I had to kill him too.

I made it home and sent an email to Bobby to inform him that I would need yet another new cell phone. He would know to transfer everything from the computer to it. I also wanted him to deliver flowers to Sookie's house during the day. I would write her a note, and he should pick it up and deliver it with the flowers. I would be seeing her the next night no matter what.

As the sun rose, I went to my day rest with thoughts about how to make things right with Sookie.

I awoke a little before the sun was actually set, not unusual at my age. It was only a second later that I knew something was wrong with Sookie, but I did not have any idea of what it could be. Through the bond I felt both sadness and fear. I did not sense that she was in impending danger though, so I was at a complete loss to what was happening with her. I knew that I had to get to her as quickly as possible. Everything in my body told me to drive that sadness and those fears out of hers, and to kill whatever was causing it.

As soon as it was safe for me to travel, I took to the air as I knew that flying would take me to her faster than anything else. I was beginning to get flashes of pain from Sookie, but nothing that suggested major injuries. The feelings that were coming from her were beyond disconcerting to me. She also felt different. I wasn't able to put my finger on what it was, and I had never felt anything like it from her before.

I flew in the direction of her house in Bon Temps, but as I flew closer, I could sense she was not there. Concentrating on the bond, I was able to sense her location and became confused. I felt she was in the woods headed in the approximate direction of her brother's house. She was just sitting in the middle of the woods. A reason why she would be walking through the woods instead of driving to visit her brother escaped me.

As I flew into the woods, I knew I was nearing her. I landed right in front of where she should have been according to our bond, and was stunned at what I saw! A little shriek and the person the bond told me was my Sookie leapt into the nearest bush furthered my surprise, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do…

 **I wonder what Eric found...**

 **Time and the next chapter will tell us what exactly he found. I will be eager to see what you lovely readers think of it. Thanks for reading and a big thanks to MsBuffy for fixing up all my grammatical errors in this tale.**

 **Thanks so much for giving this story I try. I do hope you enjoy. Thanks also to those taking the time to let me know what they think about it. Remember to log in and I will be able to** **respond.**


	3. Chapter 2

I couldn't believe what I saw. I didn't want to believe it. Part of me thought I should just have left and returned to Sookie's house. Surely she would be back there at some point. There was no way the person who dove for the bushes at the very sight of me could have actually been Sookie. No way in hell!

So why was there a part of me that knew it had been?

First things first, she had to come out of the bushes. Nothing could be accomplished while she remained in the fucking bushes!

"Come out," I said, but it was to no avail. The bushed moved a bit, but the person the bond was telling me was Sookie did not appear.

"Now!" I said harshly. She still didn't appear. I crouched down, and bent my knees until I knew she could see me.

"If you won't come out, I will have to come in there to get you," I told her probably a little more harshly than I should have. I was not used to having people ignore me.

That got her moving. She let out a little squeak, and darted out from under the bushes. For the first time, I took a good look at her.

There was a definite resemblance between the girl who stood before me and Sookie. Same shade of hair, same features only a little less mature, but it was her eyes that had me convinced that she was, indeed, Sookie. I had spent quite a bit of time staring into those eyes while I tried to figure her out. Still, I was having a hard time believing the person in front of me was Sookie, however. Why, you may ask?

Because the person I was staring at was the size of a child. Scratch that. I was looking at a little human, a little human that resembled Sookie; a little human that smelled like Sookie. A little human that the bond insisted was Sookie.

Looking her over, I noticed that the Merlotte's t-shirt Sookie usually looked very delectable in as it stretched across her figure, was fitting this teacup human as if it was a dress. She didn't seem to be wearing anything underneath.

The little human had been crying for a long time. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her hair was stuck to her face where the tears had fallen. There was also gross stuff coming from her nose. I hated it when stuff came out of human noses. It was never a good sign of things to come.

I grew impatient and wanted answers, so I grabbed her arm and asked, "What's your name?" as I still did not believe what I saw, what I felt. I did not receive an answer to my question. Well, there was a response, but it was just more crying and only more stuff that came from her nose. It was getting tiring. I wondered if I should just try and glamour the little girl. I knew Sookie was immune to glamour, but perhaps this little human version of Sookie would not be so immune. I tried to catch her with my gaze for a minute or so before giving in that even as a little human Sookie could also not be glamoured.

I finally scooped up the little person and took off flying through the sky. Now, I had flown with Sookie before, I had even flown with her when she was scared. What I hadn't flown with in a very long time was a wiggling thing, and a child is a very wiggling thing. I regretted my decision to fly with her almost immediately as I had to hold her more tightly than I wanted so she wouldn't fall. I hadn't meant or wanted to hurt her.

I quickly landed with her, but held onto her arm so she couldn't run away. I checked the bond in an attempt to find out if I had done any damage to the tiny human I was trying to convince myself was not Sookie. Feeling her through the bond was not helping my denial but I was happy to find I had not hurt her.

She pulled at her arm while she tried to get away, and then started leaking again when she realized she could not. Trying to stop her tears, I released her arm and she started to run off through the woods again! She was limping mildly. The child was barefoot and had probably cut her feet up during her trek through the woods.

I started to run after her, but stopped myself as soon as I came within reach of her. Scared Sookie was different from any other scared human I had come in contact with. A scared Sookie became a defiant Sookie. That was most likely a lifelong trait. I somehow had to stop scaring this tiny human for enough time to gain some answers.

I stopped chasing her and called out, "I will not hurt you."

She slowed and looked back, but continued to run. We were getting nowhere! I was not in the mood to deal with a child. I had enough to deal with; trying to find out what happened to Sookie and how I could fix it.

I used my speed and moved to get ahead of her. When she saw me, she turned and started back the opposite way. I moved in front of her again, and grabbed her arm once more so she could no longer run away. She then tried to bite me! The small child bit me in order to attempt to pull my arm off of hers.

The irony was not lost on me.

I took a few seconds to collect myself. I had not had to deal with children in a long time; however, I remembered they usually did not respond well to fear. I had probably done nothing else but scare this little human since the moment she first set her eye on me.

"I will release you if you promise to no longer run," I told her. She immediately nodded her head while tears filled her eyes yet again. I hated it when adult Sookie cried, but as I looked into this little person's face, I found I disliked it even more. I slowly released my arm and the little girl stood still. Progress.

I however, found I needed to collect myself a bit more before I did something else I may have regretted and terrorized this little person. I usually had no problem when it came to my control, but had been finding lately that it was a different story when it came to Sookie. Adding that I knew nothing of this situation was not helping me either. If anything, it was making me more anxious. I decided to call Pam.

I looked at the little girl before me who had been carefully watching me. My thoughts went to my own children that I made when I was human. I shook my head. I could not think those thoughts at this time. One thought at a time.

My unbeating heart clenched when I saw her flinch at the slightest movement of my head. It had been a long time since I looked into the eyes before mine and saw fear aimed toward me. I hated that it was fear that looked out of them even while I tried to continue denying what was standing right before me.

"I need to call a friend of mine," I said, not wanting to scare her by moving unexpectedly again.

"Why?" the little girl asked.

"I thought I could use or might need her help with something," At that she remained silent and I made the call.

"This better be important," she said sarcastically when she picked up the phone. I could not help the smile that crossed my face as I got my first taste of 'normal' that evening. That phrase also told me she hadn't been monitoring our bond otherwise she would have felt all my unease.

I slipped into my native tongue because I didn't want to be understood by the little ears that were standing before me. " _ _I am Master, Pam. Whenever I call it is important,"__ I told her although I kept my tone light.

" _ _I suppose I can give you that__ ," she said in a voice filled with the sarcasm that was my child as she spoke my native tongue herself. " _ _When will you be in? Victor has already called twice trying to reach you__."

I looked over at the little girl I was finding harder and harder to deny was Sookie. She was looking back at me in her now too big Merlotte's t-shirt. She shuffled her feet a bit but wasn't really taking any steps. One of her hands was curled in her hair while the other rested on her mouth as if she had recently stopped sucking her thumb. I was surprised at myself that I remembered that childhood habit as I turned away slightly. I wasn't sure with all that was happening at the moment that I would be able to remain calm while we discussed Victor and I didn't want her to notice any anger that might cross my face.

" _ _There's no way for me to__ __deal with him tonight, Pam__ ," I told her. " _ _Keep putting him off and I will do whatever I can to call him back tomorrow__."

" _ _I'm not sure that will hold him off__ ," she told me. " _ _If he doesn't hear from you tonight, you know he will be making an appearance tomorrow__."

I cursed, still in my native tongue. I did not need Victor coming to Shreveport at all, least of all with the issue I seemed to be faced with presently. I turned around to look at the little girl. She was now twirling, and she smiled a bit at how the shirt swished around her legs. " _ _I won't be able to come in, Pam. When he calls again, let him know something came up and tell him call my cell__."

" _ _He won't be happy to know something came up that he was not made aware of, Eric__."

" _ _He won't have anything to say once he realizes on just what that the issue I have been dealing seems to be with my wife this evening, not anything that would involve Area 5__."

" _ _Somehow__ __I doubt Victor would see it that way__ ," she said before she processed what I said. I felt her attempt to navigate her way through our bond before she asked. " _ _What's wrong, Eric?__ "

I exhaled an unnecessary sigh as I began to explain, " _ _That would be one of those things you would need to witness for yourself to believe, Pam. Sookie and I will require transportation tonight. Meet us at her house.__ "

" _ _Was she injured?"__

Returning my look once more to the little girl who was now looking at the ground while she used her toes to draw in the dirt, I told Pam, " _ _She is unharmed."__

" _ _You didn't answer my question."__

" _ _No, but it's the best I am able to give at the moment. Please, just make your way here as quickly as possible, Pam__ ," I practically begged, and then hung up. I didn't miss the fear that shot through the little girl's face when she noticed my focus had returned to her once more. I stopped in midstep toward her; no longer did I wish to frighten her further. Part of me was surprised that she didn't run away again.

"You talked funny on the phone," she said with a little bit of a lisp on her 's' sounds. It would be a lie if I said I did not find it adorable.

"I was speaking a different language," I told her, while I stepped back in an effort to make her more comfortable. I wanted to get some answers, so I asked her "What were doing walking around the woods so late at night?"

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she said. I couldn't help but think that was certainly a rule I wished my Sookie followed. She would get into much less trouble if she would. Although thinking about it, Sookie did live in a town where it seemed everyone knew everybody. It had been me as well as other Supes who had introduced her to all the strangers that had created most of the situations that placed her in trouble, yet another way I had failed her.

"Well," I said, while I took a seat on the ground and tried my best not to look threatening or frightening. My height alone made that difficult whenever I had to deal with children. "How could we fix it so that we were no longer strangers?" I asked.

She took a few seconds to think over the question, and that told me something. If the small child was, indeed, Sookie, it appeared she had a small person's brain as well. Adult Sookie would have had some type of quick retort that she would use to respond in answer over my remark. This little child seemed as if she was truly considering my request.

"I guess you could tell me your name," she said finally. Her very simple answer confirmed that I was, indeed, dealing with the mind of a child, not just Sookie in a smaller body as if the running, crying, and stuff coming from her nose hadn't already clued me that to the particular mystery, but now it was decidedly settled…

"My name is Eric, and I have enjoyed meeting you, little one," I said, throwing in the last bit in the hope we might make it through the stranger shit quickly. "What's your name?"

She hesitated, and looked away from me, not exactly ready to divulge that information quite yet. I continued to speak, and then said, "I was actually in search of my friend. Perhaps you would like to help me find her?"

Adult Sookie was never able to turn away anyone who might need help. I hoped child Sookie was the same. I found I did not like having to make a distinction between the two. "Her name is Sookie," I added, and watched her gauging her reaction. The child was not nearly as practiced in hiding her reactions when her eyes grew wide at the very mention of the name 'Sookie'.

"Was your friend in woods, too?"

"I was planning to meet her at her house, but when I got closer I felt that she was in the nearby woods," That was close enough to the truth. Hell that was the truth! "Why were you in the woods?" I asked once again as I tried for an answer. I was desperate in trying to piece together all that had happened.

Tears began to fill her eyes again though none fell as she said, "I was trying to get back home."

That confused me because when I found her she had been walking in the opposite direction of her home. "Where was it you coming from then?" I asked having made the connection just as the words left my mouth.

"My Gran's house," Of course she was! If this tiny human truly was Sookie as she was as a young child, her home would not be the current one. She would have been living with her parents in the house where her brother currently resided.

I remained silent while I pondered over what I had just learned. "What did you say your friend's name was?" while she looked down at the ground.

"My friend's name is Sookie, and I worry something might have happened to her," I said. I felt my eyes start to tear, but I blinked them away. Something had happened to Sookie. I had no idea what it could have been or where to begin to look to fix it. Not knowing made me feel weak, and I placed my face in my hands.

A few seconds passed when I felt a small hand touch my arm lightly. "My name is Sookie."

Shit. Although the evidence had been pointing elsewhere, I was hoping that the small child standing before me was not Sookie. What the hell could have done this? I had never heard of any witch being powerful or capable enough to have done anything of this magnitude.

"Why are you running in the woods at night, Sookie?" I asked her. "It's very dangerous."

If I thought Sookie was fragile before, I didn't even want to imagine how fragile teacup human Sookie might be.

"You said you were going to help your friend."

I couldn't help but think how different her voice was. It had a higher pitch with a whiny edge to it that somehow kept it from being whiny itself. It was also softer.

"Yes," I said softly. "I thought my friend was in trouble. I thought she was very scared, and needed my help."

"I was very scared all day," she told me, her voice becoming even softer.

"I am sorry to hear that," I told her while I struggled to keep my voice quiet. "What had you so scared?"

She looked me in the eye, and I watched her face crumble before me. Her words came out in a jumbled mess and I couldn't understand all of them. I heard words like mommy and daddy, Gran, Jason, house, and alone.

I watched while the little girl took a step toward me, but then she hesitated and she decided to turn around. I could feel her fear and sadness pouring through the bond. However, for the first time tonight, her fear was not aimed at me. I take two steps to close the distance between us, and slowly placed my arm around her shoulder. She started to pull away at first, but then she finally pushed herself into my side.

I stayed silent not wanting to frighten her again. After a few minutes, Sookie began to cease in her fear, and then began to wipe the tears off her face. I had enough self-control to not lick them off myself. I doubted the small child would appreciate that. I knew her adult counterpart had never been too thrilled with it, but they do taste delicious.

"How about we get you back," I almost said home before correcting myself, "to your Gran's house? We can try to figure out what's happened."

"What about your friend?" she asked. I couldn't stop the smile on my face. Even as a small person, Sookie wanted to make certain everyone else was OK before worrying about her.

"My friend would want me to help you. I will not leave you alone in the woods."

She thought about that for a second before replying, "OK, Eric," We then started the walk to her house because I wasn't about to risk frightening her with flying again. I wasn't exactly sure when it happened but as we walked up to the house, I had a little hand held tightly in mine.

 **Hello dear readers. I do hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. I enjoyed you're guesses to what Eric had stumbled across in the last chapter and a few of you were right. This will certainly complicate things.**

 **Many thanks to MsBuffy who edited this chapter. She's been a big help!**

 **I am having difficulty updating here again for some reason. The chapters will be added here when I can**.


	4. Chapter 3

As we came upon the house, Sookie noticed Pam's car. "Whose car is that?" she asked fearfully. She took a step away from me, but didn't try to take her hand away from mine.

Damn! I hadn't thought to warn her about Pam's presence. Just I opened my mouth to try and explain Pam came rushing out of the house from wherever she had to have been awaiting our arrival. "Here as you ordered, Master," she said with a bit sarcasm in her signature tone. "Now will please fill me in on what the fuck is wrong with Sookie?" She paused while she took in the person in question who was currently attempting to hide behind me.

"She said a very bad word," I heard as Sookie murmured in a whispering voice that told me she was close to the border of crying again while she tried to push into my back.

"Eric, what the hell do you have that would be clutched to as if you were some sort of a security blanket… Oh! Were you aware that there seems to be a miniature human stuck to you?" Pam asked.

Sookie had worked her way so she was standing fully behind me. She had removed her hand from mine only to wrap both her hands into my shirt.

"She's very loud and still saying bad words," Sookie whispered into my shirt. If I wasn't a vampire I may not have heard her. As I looked over my shoulder, I saw that her eyes were held wide open. She was terrified of Pam and I couldn't have that.

"Silence, Pam," I told her, and with the tone of my voice she knew it was a command she couldn't fight, even if she tried. I didn't like to resort to using commands on her, but I wasn't willing to have Sookie be frightened any longer.

"Sookie," I said, while my eyes never left Pam's so I was able to make it clear to her just what was going on. Hell, I didn't even know what was going on, but I needed to make certain Pam realized the little person clutching at me was Sookie.

"Sookie," I repeated, dropping to my knees and gently pulling her around before me. She allowed me to pull her after she realized she was able to stay attached to my shirt. I saw the shock in Pam's eyes once she realized I was talking to the little girl who was clinging to me.

"Remember when I called my friend?" She nodded her head against my chest. "She was the friend I called. Her name is Pam. I am sorry she scared you," I said, surprising even myself with an apology. "She was also friends with my friend, Sookie. Pam had been just as worried about her."

Pam, not quite able to say anything yet, took a step toward us. Her face, usually schooled to display no emotion, was clearly showing her shock and terror. Neither of us knew what could do this, and that worried her as much as it did me.

Sookie buried herself further into my chest while she watched Pam walk toward us. With an almost imperceptible shake of my head, Pam stopped her forward movement. I gently pushed Sookie away from me a bit so I could see her. Part of me was astonished that this little girl who only thirty minutes before was terrified of me was now clutching me for protection.

As I looked into those eyes that I was finding all too familiar I said, "Pam would never hurt you. I asked her come to us here so she could help me, as I wished to help you. She was only surprised to see you, and worried about our friend. That's why she yelled and said bad words."

Sookie leaned into my ear and whispered, "She's scary." I felt slight amusement from Pam when she heard the comment Sookie had tried to make sure she would not.

I brought my own voice to a whisper so Sookie would believe Pam wouldn't hear I said, "She is very scary. That's why it's a good thing she's here to help us. She won't hurt you. She was just surprised. As a matter of fact, I believe she might apologize to you if you were to allow her." With those words, I lifted my command for silence.

I slowly turned Sookie around so she could see Pam. She leaned back into me, and held my arm in front of her while I tried to pull it away. When Pam stayed silent, I leveled my eyes toward her. Pam hated apologizing more than I did, but I couldn't fail Sookie. I would not have her be afraid of us. It would only complicate matters in getting her back to how she belonged.

"I am sorry that I scared you, tiny human," Pam said with a voice that was nowhere near apologetic. I could not understand my child's attitude. She and Sookie were, are, or whatever tense I should be using in this situation, close. Why was she behaving in such a way?

Apparently, I was not the only one who didn't believe her apology. "That was not a good I'm sorry voice," Sookie said, putting her hands on her hips in a move very similar to the actions of adult Sookie.

Pam just looked at me while I tried not to laugh. Sookie always said the funniest things! Well, I found them amusing when they were not aimed toward me. "I'm still waiting," said the little voice in front of me. At that statement, I could no longer contain my laughter. The seriousness in my child's face caused me to stop. She said so quietly Sookie probably wasn't able to hear, "It really is her, isn't it?"

The Sookie standing in front of me looked so similar to the Sookie we knew and cared for. The mannerisms were the same and the glare on her face while she waited for Pam's apology; well, we both had seen that exact same look before.

"Sookie, I am so sorry I scared you," my child said sincerely, a blood red tear started to run down her face. She quickly wiped it away so not to frighten the child any more. Having her see Pam cry blood would probably undo all the progress we had made that night.

"That's better," Sookie immediately said, and her face broke out into a smile. It was the first one I had seen, and part of me basked in the familiarity of it. As she turned and looked at the house her smile seemed to grow, and she started to run toward it.

Pam looked at me when I started after Sookie and gently put my hand on her arm. I didn't want to restrain her, but I also didn't want her to be shattered when she discovered no one was in there.

"Eric," she said and pulled on my arm. "Maybe someone's home now."

I looked at her eyes, so filled with hope, and I hated the fact that she was about to be destroyed again. There was no one waiting in the house for her. Her grandmother and parents were all dead. She would not recognize her brother as an adult. There was no one she would recognize in town.

She looked back at me and a bit of apprehension had filled her face. At least it wasn't the full-blown fear it was earlier. "No one will be in the house, little one," I said to her gently.

"No, Eric. They wouldn't leave me!" she repeated with her 'm' sounding more like a 'b' her nose all stuffed up from crying. As I looked at her face, I had no idea how to tell this child that no one was waiting. Her family wasn't coming. How would I comfort this small child? I found I couldn't even find a starting point if I wasn't sure what had happened.

"Sookie, you were very upset in the woods when you told me what happened. I didn't understand it all," I told her. "Could you try and tell me again?" She was calmer now, and perhaps if I knew what happened I could start to think over what might have happened. Pam came a little closer to where we stood even though she would have been able to hear just fine from where she was.

Sookie looked from me to Pam, before she looked back to me. "I don't really know," she said quietly. "I don't remember coming over to Gran's house. It's like I woke up and was just here, all alone. No Gran, no Mommy or Daddy. Not even stinky Jason. "

I thought about that. Spells could cause a person to lose time, but I had no knowledge of any type of spell that could revert an adult back to a child. That didn't mean they didn't exist though. I'd have to contact a witch. Fuck! I hate witches. I needed Pam to call Amelia.

"What was the last thing you remember?" I asked her, attempting to determine where to start piecing this all together.

Sookie's face became serious when she said, "I don't know. I was somewhere where a lot of grownups were eating. There were some people wearing a shirt like mine. I'm sorry I don't remember more than that," she said, possibly because she saw the anger I felt made itself clear in my face.

I looked up at Pam who nodded her head. That sounded more like the adult Sookie with whom we were much more familiar with than how a young child might talk. Yet, at the same time, she had just referred to her brother as 'stinky.' That seemed to be like what a child would say. Just how much of the adult version had this little version retained?

First, we had to figure out what the fuck happened. It sounded as if the last thing she remembered was working at Merlotte's. Sam should have been able to scent anything out of the ordinary. He would probably still be in adult form. I could ask him, unless he wasn't there that night. She remembers being here… So maybe she had come home and something happened then. Damn! There were still too many unknowns.

Looking to Pam, Sookie said, "There's no one else in there, is there?"

Pam shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

Sweetheart? Pam had never been big on terms of endearments. As a matter of fact, I think asshole was as close as she came these days, and that was to the people she liked.

I tensed while I waited for the inevitable tears that Sookie would cry at the news that no one else was in the house. I was surprised when there were none. Not knowing what to say to make sure we remained tear free, I stayed quiet as I thought.

I was tossed from my thoughts when a little voice said, "I don't wanna stay here all alone."

It's funny how much I wished my Sookie would say that to me. Adult Sookie had too much of an independent streak in her though, at least when it came to me.

"You won't be staying here alone," I told her gently.

"You'll stay with me?" she asked a little eagerly.

"Not exactly," I said. There really wasn't enough day protection here. Plus, with Victor up to who knows what, I would need to be in Shreveport, and as I planned on keeping Sookie close to me, she would need to be in Shreveport as well. "How about you come stay at my house?"

"Like a sleepover," she said excitedly. I glared at Pam, she did not do a good job of trying to suppress her snicker at the thought of Sookie and I having a sleepover. It is something I wish adult Sookie was okay with having more often.

"Yes, like a sleepover," I told her. "One I'm sure Pam would be happy to attend as well."

My turn to sport a big smile as hers collapsed.

"Yay! I never went to a sleepover before."

Children are so damn confusing. An hour ago she was terrified of the two of us. Now she was excited at the idea of a sleepover with us. Why did I get the feeling that my thousand years had not prepared me for this?

"Was there anything you wanted to take with you?" I asked, wanting to get back to Shreveport quickly. I wanted her inside my safe house soon. When the words were out of my mouth, I realized none of her clothes would actually fit her, and she probably wouldn't recognize much. I braced myself for more tears as I had reminded her again that there was something wrong. She surprised me again when she ran into the house to see if there was something she'd like to bring.

As Pam and I followed her inside, I looked on the porch searching for the flowers and note I had told Bobby to deliver. "I took them inside," Pam said as she noticed me looking for something.

I got a heavy feeling in my chest when I realized that my Sookie would never even get to see the flowers, never get to see my regrets in our situation. No, my regrets in what I had done to her over the last two months.

That gave us an idea of the timing though. Bobby would have delivered the flowers first thing. If they were still outside, Sookie had never seen them. That meant it probably happened overnight. What was still unclear was where it had happened.

Oh yes, that and what the fuck happened. That was still pretty unclear.

I continued inside the house and sat in the living room, resting my elbows on my knees, and put my face in my hands. Pam came in and sat next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. She gave me a minute of silence as we heard Sookie banging above us.

"What are we going to do, Eric?"

"We will need to determine what could have done such a thing to her. You will have to call Amelia to get a witch's input. We'll continue as we would normally so no one suspects that nothing is anything other than the norm."

She hesitated, and then asked, "What will you do, Eric?" I didn't miss the change in her pronouns. I knew what my plan was when I had been going to prove to Sookie that she did not simply hand me a knife, that it was more for me as well. I knew what I was going to try to do.

All of that just went out the window when I found this little Sookie in the woods.

"I will make certain she's protected. I will deal with Victor and Felipe. I will…" but I trailed off, no as I no longer trusted my voice to remain steady.

"Eric, that's not,"

"Enough, Pam," I said, my tone a warning to her. Just then, we heard a large bang from the kitchen followed by a louder cry.

I was in the kitchen before I could blink.

I found Sookie on the floor next to an overturned chair while she clutched her knee. I lifted her up and sat her on the counter before I realized what I had done.

"What happened?" I asked, only then realizing I sounded harsher than I meant when the tears started to fall. Damn! I had been doing so well too. I again asked her what happened, but I used a much softer tone this time.

She was able to calm herself down enough and said pretty calmly, "I was trying to get a cup for some water, but the chair felled. Then I felled."

I got angry when adult Sookie would get hurt and found myself getting even angrier at this Sookie even in her present form. I tried a counting exercise Pam had been telling me about. It's supposed to help you calm down or something before you react. I got to 10 and told her, "Ask for help next time," through clenched teeth. Counting didn't necessarily help, and I hated the fact she was hurt.

I pulled her hands away from her knee and saw that it had a little cut on it. Her knee didn't look swollen, it was just the little cut.

"Will you kiss it all better?"

My head jerked up to look at the little girl's face. "What?"

"A kiss can make booboos feel better," she told me.

"Really?" This was not something I had heard before. It did make sense in my world though. I wondered if this whole superstition happened because of vampires.

I got a nod with a smile in response. Hmm. I might have to remember this one for the future.

As I leaned down toward her knee, I pierced my tongue on my fangs so that a little of my blood would get into the cut, healing it right up as I gave the cut a little lick. I could still feel the bond between us so I knew the little exchange wouldn't hurt her.

Maybe I was wrong when she jerked her knee away from me, but she was giggling as she did so. "You licked it," she said in between the small laughter. "You're not supposed to lick, just kiss. It tickled."

"I made the cut go away though," I told her.

She looked down at her knee and said, "You did. You're magic!" As she said that, her eyes took on a peculiar look. I knew that look. It was the look Sookie made when she was trying to use her telepathy. I stayed quiet, not knowing what to say that wouldn't upset her.

When she got a confused look on her face, I asked her, "Did you find anything you wanted to bring?"

"Just that," she said pointing to a pillow. "It smells good."

I took her off the counter and set her on the floor. "Let's go then," I said while picking up the pillow. My own scent caught my attention when I picked it up. My scent was even stronger than hers on this pillow, and she thought it smelled good? After two months, it was faint, but it was still there. I shook my head, not at all ready to think about how I had failed her in those two months or what the damn pillow possibly meant.

I looked at the little girl who was picking up all the characteristics I had grown familiar with in the past few years. I couldn't do it anymore so I told Sookie and Pam I would be in the car and went out to wait for them. I filled my head with thoughts of how to get back at Victor, of how to determine ultimately who is in control between Victor and Felipe, and anything else possible to keep Sookie out of my thoughts.

I was joined in the car two minutes after I got in. Pam had to help Sookie with her seatbelt before she could get in the driver's seat. She took one look at my face and knew to leave me alone. She took my hand as she drove down the driveway though.

Five minutes into the drive, my cell phone rang. I look at the Caller ID.

"Fuck," I said. Just what I needed to make this night even worse, Victor Madden.

 **Hello dear readers. I do hope that you have enjoyed this next chapter. Having to deal with a young Sookie will certainly complicate things for Eric. Maybe just maybe, it will help him in other ways too. Many thanks to MsBuffy who has edited this chapter.**

 **Linda - So glad to see you are enjoying and I hope you continue to and hopefully I'll be able to upload files here to keep you updated.**

 **Milla - The answer to that comes up in a later** **chapter.**


	5. Chapter 4

"Fuck!" I repeated, while I was tempted to simply throw the damn phone out the window. I wished not having to deal with Victor was a simple as that. It would have made my life much easier. Not to mention the pleasure I would take from imagining the phone was, in fact, Madden's head might be enough to get me through the rest of the evening.

Maybe.

Pam, taking a pretty good guess at who was calling given my reaction, got my attention and said quietly, "He called once more right before I left. I told him to call your cell just as you said."

One night! All I asked for was one night of not having to deal with Madden and de Castro and their craziness! If I had known it would have been like this, I might have told Pam to run and never pledged fealty to de Castro, or at least I would have gone down fighting, hopefully taking Madden with me. Then I looked at the miniature face in the back seat, and remembered why I did not simply do just that; I was worried about where it would leave Sookie. They would have killed her, but it would not have been a physical kill. No, they would have done worse by killing her sprit, her soul.

That was not something that one recovered from easily.

As I nodded, I acknowledged Pam's words and answered my phone with a simple, "Northman," Sookie's little voice called from the back seat, "You said a very bad word, Eric."

Talk about a bit of a delayed reaction.

I prayed to whatever god would listen to a vampire that Madden had not heard Sookie. I had no idea how I would explain such a little voice to him, let alone the words the little voice had said. It was not often that I surrounded myself with little people who called me out for having said a 'bad word.' Hell, I do not usually spend my time with people of any kind who would call me out for saying any word. However, there must not be one as I heard Victor say, "Yes, Eric, you did say a bad word."

"You are a big boy, Victor," I told him, hoping that he did not question the little voice he had obviously heard. "You have heard worse. You have said even worse."

"So I have," he said with a laugh as if we were talking like old friends. That was definitely not the case. Luck did not appear to be on my side as he continued and said, "What confuses me is why you would have someone with you who would care about that word coming out of your mouth," He paused while I started to think of any response that might take him off this topic of questioning. I didn't know what was wrong with Sookie, but I did know one thing; I needed to make sure that no one, especially Victor Madden, found out that there was anything wrong.

"That little voice did not sound like one that should be frequenting your bar. Or one that should be out this late, never mind one that should not be around vampires," Another pause. "You don't have a liking for small children do you, Eric?" he asked, and I could hear the smile in his voice. Though that was something I would prefer that he believe at the present time rather than the actual truth, I did not need to spend the next few nights dealing with what would surely be excruciating questions if he thought that was my little predilection.

When I looked in the rearview mirror at the tiny human who was currently my wife, I thought that my nights would have to be filled with other, much more important things in the near future. She seemed to have an understanding that she should not say anything else while I was on the phone. Given her sinking back further into the seat, it might have had more to do with the glare that Pam seemed to have given her.

We were really going to have to work on not scaring the tiny Sookie.

"Victor, small children and I just do not see eye to eye," I told him. No lie there with my height; there are not many people who are able to see eye to eye with me. As much as I hated meeting with the vampire, this was the one time I wish I was; I wish we were having this discussion face to face so that I could see how he reacted. With nothing to go on besides his voice, I had no idea what kind of impact my words had on him.

Of course, I wished it were not simply my words that had an impact on him.

He was quiet for a few seconds. "I needed to meet with you tonight," Victor said, and I inwardly cursed. Though I could very well appreciate the change in subject, there was no way that I could meet with Victor tonight.

"I apologize, but that will not be possible," I told him, glancing again in the rearview mirror. Sookie was looking right at it as well and met my eyes when I glanced there. She got a little smile on her face and gave me a little wave.

"You would not be shirking on your duties by chance, Sheriff?" he asked me, which brought my focus back to the conversation.

"Not at all. As a matter of fact I am resolving a situation at the moment," Again, it was not a lie. I was trying to resolve a situation at the moment. I just had no idea how to resolve this particular situation or just what was the cause for it might be. I was not about to tell Victor that.

"What situation?"

"You will have a full summary of the occurrence and its resolution tomorrow," I told him, adding even more work for myself. I had to manufacture something, make sure everyone had the same story, and had to put up with another set of endless questions to ensure the end of the situation was constructive.

Until there was speck of dust on the fake report and I would have to write it all over again.

"You will meet with me tomorrow night to discuss this situation," he told me, and ended the call before I had a chance to try and get out of meeting with him, which had likely been his plan.

I hung up the phone and looked over at Pam. The look we gave each other told me that we were still both on the same page. Madden would need to be taken out and de Castro would not be far behind him. Either Madden was acting as an enforcer for de Castro, or Felipe was allowing Madden to run the states. Either way, it did nothing to prove that de Castro was a capable king. I had no time for kings who were incapable.

I barely had time for the ones that were.

I pulled into a parking lot, and made a stop for some things I thought that Sookie could use during the day. It may have been a while since I have had human needs or that I have been around Sookie and her human needs, but I did know that humans needed to eat and drink throughout the day. I thought back to when I had my own human children and to my vampire ones and remembered that children tended to need more to eat.

I left Pam and Sookie in the car as I went into the store to get anything I could remember having seen in Sookie's house. That was the best I could do at the time. Perhaps I could send Bobby out for more child-friendly supplies if these were not suitable. I would be lying, however, if I said that I was not hoping to have this situation resolved long before more or different supplies were needed.

I made it back to the car and found Sookie singing softly in her seat much like she did on any car ride. I looked to Pam's face while my ears took in that tiny human Sookie was not much of a better singer than adult human Sookie. Her voice was a little softer, and a little higher and squeakier, but her overall ability to carry a tune was just about the same. It was something that I found endearing and adorable when Sookie was her regular age; it was much more so with little tiny Sookie.

"Eric," Pam said as I climbed into the car. She looked to Sookie to try to bring my attention to her and it took me a few seconds to realize what she was trying to make me to understand. The song that Sookie was singing was older than Sookie appeared to be; there was no way that Sookie could have heard this song as a child. It was only a few years old and wasn't a remake of an original.

I looked to Pam and she nodded and said, "Pretty much every song since you went inside."

That just added another piece to the puzzle. That was the first thing we had observed thus far that suggested Sookie might have retained some of her adult memories, but she did not recognize me. She did not recognize Pam. She thought she might have been able to see family members who had passed. That didn't suggest she had held the memory from when she was an adult.

I was beyond confused. I had thought in my thousand years I had seen everything, but I had to admit that it no longer seemed as if that was the case. I found that I very much did not like not having any sort of idea of what was going on.

I would have to place a call to Amelia and see if she had any knowledge of a spell that could do what it was that had been done to Sookie. I also had to make sure someone visited the dog's establishment to determine what information could be learned there. I could just as easily call him and see, but with knowing so little information about what was happening, I was hesitant to make it known that anything was amiss. I did not know who had done this; therefore, I did not know whom I could fully trust.

We were almost back at one of my safe houses. I had chosen this particular one because it had a room set up that this little Sookie could use. Pam was talking to me about what Victor said each of the seven times he called her that night when suddenly Sookie's little voice rang out as she tried to get my attention.

"Eric," she said, in a tiny squeaky voice. Pam, not accustomed to being interrupted, continued to speak and Sookie saw that she did not yet have my full attention. "Eric," she repeated in a voice that was no longer so high or squeaky. This time Pam told her one-minute and she continued to explain that Victor insinuated on the phone that he might have to start spending more time in Area Five if I continued to be so out of touch.

"Eric, Eric, Eric!" Sookie shouted, causing me to look at her through the rearview mirror, and I saw her little legs swinging quickly.

"What?" I asked her. OK, I realized it may have been more of a yell when I saw her shrink back into her seat.

"Nothing," she said softly, but her legs were still moving a mile a minute.

"What, Sookie?" I asked my voice much calmer. I was not used to censoring myself when speaking to another, not having had to for centuries.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she said, barely getting the words out. In fact, if I did not have vampire hearing, I probably would not have heard it.

Pam and I looked at each other as I pressed down on the accelerator, trying to get to my house sooner. "Can she use the toilet?" Pam asked in my native language. When I taught her it, I never thought it would be for a reason such as this.

I did not answer Pam; instead I pressed down even harder on the accelerator and pulled into my driveway seventy-three second later. I was up and out of the car, grabbed Sookie, and had her in one of my thankfully functional bathrooms less than five seconds later. She quickly pulled down her pants and I turned around, not sure about the rules regarding this kind of stuff. I wasn't sure there were any rules for what one was supposed to do if their wife gets magically turned back into a child!

"Will you need any help?" I asked her, all the while hoping the answer was no. I would help, of course, if needed, but I was hoping it was not, until I at least had time to take a symbolic breath in all of this.

"No. I'm a big girl," she said proudly as I started to hear proof that she was tending to her human needs.

"I will wait just outside then," I told her and went out to my living room to where Pam was currently sitting. I had nothing to say, and for once, it appeared my child did not either. We simply stared at each other as we heard the toilet flush and heard Sookie turn on the water, I assumed to wash her hands.

I took a seat on my couch, rested my arms on my legs, and placed my head in my hands. For the first time in a long time, I had no thoughts. I had many, many things to be thinking at that very moment, yet none of them came into my head. I heard Pam in the kitchen putting things away, and that told me she probably found herself in the same boat as me, too many thoughts to process to think of just one.

Pam returned and sat next to me on the couch. She wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "We will figure this out. We will get her back," she told me.

"We have nowhere to start," I responded. That was my worst thought at the moment. Usually, I knew what the threats were, knew what could have caused the issues with which I was confronted. With this, I was drawing a blank and it was the scariest thought I had in a long time.

"Madden?" Pam asked.

I shook my head. "He would have no issue using Sookie to come at me but he would make it known that it was him. He would want me to know from where the attack came."

Then we could not talk any further because Sookie came bounding out of the bathroom as someone who had far too much energy for the current situation. She bounded right up to us on the couch, shoved her hands in Pam's face, and announced that she washed her hands.

Pam's face was priceless, and I probably would have laughed in response had I not been in the situation I was in.

"Yes, I see. Good job," Pam told her as she tapped her on the head a bit all the while with a confused and pained look on her face. It seemed to work for Sookie who then cuddled up next to me on the couch and let out a yawn, which caused me to look at the clock. With only about an hour before sunrise, I assumed it was way past little Sookie's bedtime. Hell, it is pretty much past big Sookie's bedtime as well.

"Sookie, would you like me to show you your room?" I asked her.

"I'm staying here? With you?" Funny. That was pretty much Sookie's reaction the first time I suggested her staying at my place, too.

"Wouldn't that be fun?" Pam asked her. "Remember, it will be like a slumber party."

"Parties are fun!" she announced before she took my hand, and started to try and pull me off the couch. "C'mon. Show me my room," So I did just that, and then suggested that she go to bed.

"I can't sleep in this," she told me, surprisingly stern, though not really a surprise as she sounded very similar to her adult counterpart as she informed me that the shirt she was currently wearing was too dirty to sleep in.

Clothes. I did not have any clothes that would fit her, and I did not think to buy her any at the store. I looked at her current outfit, which was simply her uniform shirt at the Shifter's bar. That was something I could work with. After I told Sookie I would be right back, I moved into my room and after I grabbed a t-shirt of mine, moved back into Sookie's room.

I was only out of the room for about five seconds, something that did not escape Sookie either. "You move fast," she told me.

"I am very quick." I handed her the shirt and asked if she could wear that to bed. She looked at it in such an appraising way that for a split second I felt that I was looking into the face of her adult counterpart. That was, of course, until she tucked her head in the shirt, took an exaggerated smell of it, and announced she could sleep in it because it was not stinky like her brother.

Then again, that could be something Sookie would do before this as well.

Sookie got changed into the new shirt, only needing a little help when her head went where her arm should have. I then tucked her into bed, fully expecting a fight as I have heard getting children to bed is a struggle. Sookie, though, got under the covers without complaint. I explained to her that she would not see me tomorrow during the day, and that there would be food and cups in the kitchen if she got hungry or thirsty. She looked as if she had something to ask, and the face she made when she tried to listen intently to the thoughts of others.

She did not ask any questions and I did not tell her anything else, not having any time. Instead, I made sure she was comfortable before leaving her in the room to get some sleep.

That was when I realized that just because she was in bed did not mean she would stay there.

Two bathroom trips and four glasses of water later, she was finally asleep and it was a good thing too as there were only minutes before sunrise.

I went to my day rest thinking of how much I would have to do the next evening, and, unfortunately, a meeting with Madden did not look like it would be something that I could put off another night. If he truly was threatening to move to my Area, I would need to do all that I could to appease him so that never happened, especially not now.

That, unfortunately, meant meeting with him, and in meeting with him, I would have to play nice, like a good dog, protect my people and my Area, and most important to me, make sure there was no way that he could think that anything was wrong with Sookie.

I would also have to begin to go through my contacts and try to determine what had happened to my wife. Though I could not help that, I did not wish our ceremony had been different as if it had been an actual ceremony, I still think that way of Sookie. She is my wife. I was determined to find out what happened to her. I would also be killing something if it were possible, which hopefully it would be because that would make the hunt more satisfying. I went to my rest considering all the possible ways that I would end the person responsible for whatever happened to Sookie.

That was, however, not the way I rose from my rest the following evening. I arose feeling very uncomfortable due to the panic and fear I felt from my bond with Sookie. I raced out of my room and toward the kitchen where I felt her location. I felt she was not hurt and in no immediate danger, so I had no idea what could be causing her panic.

I ran into the kitchen and stopped when I felt something squishy under my feet. Something squishy in my life usually equates to blood, guts, or some kind of gore, but the little person in front of me had no evidence of blood or gore on her, and Pam, the only other being in the house, seemed fine in our bond. Once I realized they were both OK, only then did I see what was covering my kitchen, and my Sookie.

The little person currently covered in a white, powdery substance looked up at me with a worried face. In a little voice that was on the verge of crying, "Oops."

 **Hello dear readers. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. We have a few more questions on what exactly Sookie may remember and a little more proof that Eric has his hands full…maybe even more so than he had with Sookie before. Many thanks to MsBuffy and her editing skills on this chapter.**

 **Bad news - uploading here is still hit or miss. Good news is I was able to upload two chapters before FF decided to not play too nicely. So the next one should be up in a few days.**


	6. Chapter 5

I kept replaying that little voice saying, ' _Oops,'_ over and over in my head in order that I would not lose my temper. I liked things organized. I liked things neat. I liked things in control, though none of which had been ever since Sookie had walked into my life. Oh, I do know it is of no fault of her own; as soon as she was introduced or discovered by my kind, her fate was unfortunately sealed in a way. No, I just could not comprehend why I did not see that with a younger version of Sookie, the trend of trouble finding her would continue.

"What happened?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even when Pam appeared next to me in the doorway. My child was no help, she took one look at the mess that was my kitchen and my Sookie, and then burst into laughter. Pam was completely aware that though I had no real use for a kitchen, I did prefer to keep it and all my other things clean and neat. It was presently the opposite of clean and neat, which Pam understood drove me insane.

That was something she took obvious delight in.

I watched while confusion started to cross Sookie's face when she took in Pam's reaction. She looked back to mine, and the confusion of our vastly different reactions started to increase on her face. The confusion did not last for long, however. Soon Sookie had broken into laughter following Pam's lead. Even I had to admit the scene was pretty hilarious; a small child who had two vampires wrapped around her little finger, even if she did not know it, stood in a kitchen that looked as if the abominable snowman had blown up.

My poor kitchen…

"I wanted to make you pancakes," Sookie told me, once the laughing had finally subsided. Her voice did not do a good job at concealing how close to tears she still was. It pained me to know that I was the cause. She had cried so much, too much over me, and that was something I was determined to have to end. I was immediately filled with fear of what might have happened if Sookie had actually tried to cook said pancakes. My fear was not for my kitchen, not for Pam, or me, but for Sookie. She could have been hurt, all because of my oversight to not ensure she had adequate supervision.

"I wasn't going to use the stove," she continued quickly. "That's a no-no without an adult. I was just going to make the mix but then it 'ploded'," she explained.

It came as no surprise to me that with Jason Stackhouse as her brother she knew the term 'exploded' at such a young age. The way that she said the term 'ploded,' made me understand how close to tears she still was. Even in this little child form, I hated the fact that she was so frightened of me.

So in my best, gentlest voice, I told her it was OK, because that was the truth. My kitchen was filthy, but it was nothing that I could not clean up in seconds. What counted was that the little girl staring up at me was still alive for me to work on changing her back into the woman that I had come to love.

I did not think my words did what they intended; not with the look on Sookie's face, she was still quite upset and that was most likely due to the angry look I was sure was on mine. I suddenly found myself covered in the white flour as well as the white powder ball, formerly known as Sookie Stackhouse, launched herself into my arms. "I'm sorry. I'll clean it up."

I could see then what Sookie meant when she said it 'ploded. There was another explosion. The force that she used to leap into my chest caused the powder to jump off of her and land on me. Of course, Pam then ran it through my hair which did not help things. I could feel the little powder granules of flour running over my scalp as she did so.

"My child, Pam, will be happy to help you," I told Sookie, causing Pam's hand to grip onto to my hair tightly. She did not like my words. "I bet with Pam helping you, it will be clean in no time," I told Sookie.

Pam would need to be careful, but she would use her speed to help clean the mess in the kitchen. Sookie did not seem to remember that we were vampires. I was not sure how much longer I would be able to keep that from her, seeing as her inquisitive mind was a strong character trait. Sookie was very accepting of the supernatural world, possibly because of her own supernatural ability. But as a child, it could be terrifying for her.

I left Pam and Sookie cleaning up the kitchen while I made a few phone calls. I would have to meet Madden; there was no escape from that one, but I still had to get a few other things out tonight. Thalia was not pleased, but she agreed, and Felicia would review the paperwork of vampires who wanted to move into the Area. After that, I returned to the kitchen to see what progress had been made. The kitchen was put back to rights, and yet there was still one more thing in it that needed to be cleaned.

Sookie.

I took Sookie into the bathroom as I knew that she needed to wash all the remaining flour off of her. Being aware of how Sookie usually was with nudity, I had to admit that I expected her to not want to change with me in the room, and was fully prepared to have to get Pam. With what happened in my kitchen during the day, I was not risking any more chances. A bathtub full of water could be very dangerous.

It was not my bathroom I was worried about in our little scenario.

I had learned my lesson. I never should have left her alone during the day; it was too risky and I was just grateful that Sookie would live to tell the tale as I was almost positive that was the expression humans use.

However, this little Sookie did not seem to share Sookie's fear of nudity. I admit that it took me a few seconds to realize what she wanted when she held her hands straight up in the air, and then looked at me expectedly. When I did figure it out, I took the bottom of the shirt in my hands and slowly started to lift it. I was surprised at her ease, but I would not deny that I hoped it was due to that fact that on some level she knew me, she remembered me.

It was a weird feeling, doing something that I had done countless times before, remembering doing times before, but, for all intents and purposes having done it for the first time. I was not sure if I was ever going to be able to wrap my head around this.

I helped her into the tub and stood back while I wondered what to do next. The Sookie that I was used to was fiercely independent, with me at least. I knew that she was fully capable of taking care of herself, but that did not mean that I did not wish to be able to take care of her myself.

Sookie grabbed onto me for balance when she got into the tub. She quickly submerged herself before she came back up for air. When she did so, she looked at me, and I looked at her, and neither of us seemed quite sure what to do next. When I had my thoughts about bathing Sookie, this was certainly not what I imagined.

I was about to say something, though I was not sure what exactly when she asked, "Will we play games like with Uncle Bartlett?" in a voice that broke my heart. It was still innocent, but a bit edgy, as if even at this young age she was starting to see how wrong he was.

This was the only time I was angry that he was already dead. I would have enjoyed doing the deed myself.

I did not hesitate in telling her no. "I will not be playing those games with you," I told her.

"Can we play other games?" she asked, her voice hopeful while I turned away to get some shampoo. That was my mistake.

"What other games?" I asked her as I turned back around, right in time to get a face full of water.

I had no words. For the first time as a vampire, I did not even have thoughts. All I knew was that my face was wet, and I had a little girl staring back at me, waiting to see how I would react. I knew that I had one chance to get this right, especially with my reaction in the kitchen.

If it had been anyone else, my reaction would have been swift and probably deadly. That was not about to happen. So, doing the only other thing that popped into my head, I put my own hand in the water, and gently splashed her back.

By her excited squeal, I thought I had made the right decision, and my reward for having done so, another splash to the face, but her laughter was very much worth the water dripping down my face. Before I could retaliate by splashing her, she went under the water again. Given my large bathtub, she was actually able to swim again, and I made a mental note to not fill the tub that high the next time.

She came up for air, but immediately went back under the water. The next time she came up for air, I was ready and caught her by her arms.

I should have expected the stream of water she spit in my face.

"I'm a fishy," she said, more like yelled out in the bathroom.

"A fishy?" I asked, and she nodded and sucked in her lips from the corners. I was not sure I would ever understand humans. "Well, I think that we need to make you a clean fishy," I told her.

Pretty soon, I did have a clean fishy and even better, a clean, dressed fishy. She was all ready for bed, in theory at least, dressed in another one of my shirts. I would have to get her clothes that actually were her size soon, but I also did not want her to need them for much longer.

The moment came where I could no longer put off the call to Madden. With his ten phone calls so far that evening, I had already pushed my luck. I would have tried even further if I had thought it would be more productive; I would have been even happier at never seeing his face again, but at that moment, I felt as if my hands were tied. Add in the complication of Sookie's predicament and I simply could not afford to rock the boat.

I bent down to Sookie's level and let her know that I had to leave. The look on her face told me she did not approve. "Can't you stay?" she asked, pulling her top lip under her bottom in a pout.

"You have no idea how much I would I want that," I told her, and I knew those words were the truth, even if there was no magic working on Sookie, she would have no idea how much I wished I could be with her every night.

Her phone message proved that.

"Pam will stay with you though."

She wrinkled her nose at that. "She seems grumpy."

I managed to hold in my laugh but just barely. "She seems grumpy, but she is as cuddly as a teddy bear," I told her. "She would probably love to play dress up with you." With that, I seemed to be forgotten as Sookie looked hopefully to Pam.

Yet when I was just about out of the room Sookie asked, "Can I make you a picture while you're gone?"

"I would love that," I told her before she asked for some paper and something to color with. Paper, I had a great deal of paper that she could color on and I got her a few pieces from my printer, thinking that plain sheets would be the best for drawing. When it came to the actual coloring implements, I found that I was terribly lacking. I had black pens and one lone red pen to offer her. I apologized, told her I would get her more tonight, and she would have plenty to color with tomorrow.

As soon as I could determine what a little girl should color with…

"Will you color with me tomorrow?" she asked, and I found it impossible to tell her no, much the same as when it came to adult Sookie.

"I would be more than happy to do so tomorrow night," I told her, and her face scrunched up, much like it does when she tends to be trying to figure things out in her head.

"Why not during the day?" she asked while she looked away and started to draw some lines on the paper.

With that question, it seemed as if she had no recognition of me. I was more upset with that thought than I cared to admit. I knew it was something I should have expected with her actions thus far, but I had hoped there would be something like when she sang the songs.

"I work at night so I sleep during the day," I told her, and just as I usually hated it, I hated not telling Sookie the complete truth.

She scrunched up her face again, only this time she looked much more as if she was trying to read my mind. I knew that finding the nothing that Sookie recognized as my brain would be even more confusing to her, and I was just waiting for her to ask a question as that was what I was used to, but she did not. Instead, she just wished me good night, asked me what my favorite flower and animal was, and started on her picture, her picture that I hoped she was really drawing for me.

I left her that way and pulled Pam into the next room with me. "Amelia," I said simply knowing that she would understand my unasked question.

"Should arrive before sunrise. She was unaware of what she will find upon her arrival. I did not want to discuss it over the phone." I nodded to her, showing my approval of her decision.

"Is she enough?" Pam asked, and voiced my own concern. I kept quiet, I had no answer. Staying here, protected by the secrecy of my safe house, yes, Amelia should be enough to ensure Sookie's safety. I just didn't know if 'should be' was enough security for me when it came to Sookie. I did not know if there would ever be enough security for me when it came to Sookie.

The problem with that was I also did not want to make her condition known. Everyone who found out posed a danger to her, merely by knowing of the situation. The less who knew the better, but I did need to make sure she was adequately protected during the day. "Call Dawson, or have the witch call him," I finally said to Pam. "Ask him if he can spare any Weres during the day."

I would not be happy with the dog smell they brought into my house but if it kept Sookie safe, I could stomach it.

Hopefully.

"She seems much better with us tonight," Pam said.

I had thought the same thing. "Children are adaptable," I said, using that as an excuse.

"And a thousand-year-old vampire?"

"Needs to adapt or he will never make it to a thousand years."

I knew what she was hinting. I could not say that if anyone told me that I would have spent a portion of the night playing 'fishy' in the bathroom; I would have inquired if they had caught Sino-aids.

Yet that was exactly how I had spent a portion of my evening.

"What's going on, Eric?" she asked me and I knew that she did not expect me to have an answer; she was simply looking for comfort. Unfortunately, I had nothing to offer her at that time as I felt as if I kept getting further and further away from any answers, and that was a comforting thought to no one. "Do you think it was one of our enemies?"

Yet another question I did not know the answer to, but one I would have to trust my judgment on if we were to try to narrow down the possibilities of what could have happened. "No. I do not think it was one of our enemies. If it was, I have no doubt they would have made it known by now," I sighed and continued, answering her first question. "I do not know what is going on, Pam. I think she knows us. She may not remember us, but I think somewhere she knows who we are and knows that we are her…" There were many words that I wanted to end that sentence with, and yet none of them seemed enough to explain her true worth to me.

"Friends," I finally finished, and the look Pam gave me told me that she felt like I did about my choice of word. It did not have her approval.

"She doesn't seem to know us," Pam told me gently.

"She does not seem to know much," I thought back to when I found her in the woods. She thought that she would be at her parents who had been dead for years. She thought she would see her Gran whose death was much more recent, but something I knew Sookie would never forget. "Yet she seems to know much," I added, thinking about her singing the songs in the car.

"I may not be sure what happened to her, Pam," I said to my child. That was certainly an understatement. "I have to think that her memories are still there; that whatever the magic did to her, it could not take that away."

She stayed silent at that, both of us knowing that we had to think like that; to think anything other than that was just too difficult. I knew how I felt in losing my memories, and then gaining most of them back; then all of them back. Lost did not even start to cover it, but if it helped me to help her, I would have done it all again.

I took one more peek in at her before I took my leave to meet with Victor. I hoped that I could make it through the meeting without finally killing him. That would be on the menu at some point, but all other contingencies would have to be well planned and well thought out.

I made it to my club, which was where Victor always chose to meet. It would seem odd him wanting to meet on my territory, but I knew what he was trying to accomplish. He wanted to show me that he had complete control, even in and over what was mine. That was something I allowed him to believe though it was also something that I hoped would help me bring his downfall.

Just before I opened my office door, certain to find Madden behind it seated in my chair, my phone went off, and when I saw it was a message from Pam, I opened it immediately. Pam had sent me a picture of Sookie's drawing. She had used the red pen, I had told her red was my favorite color, to draw me what initially looked like a blob on the page. Upon closer inspection, I saw the telltale mane of a lion, my favorite animal.

I smiled quickly before I wiped it off my face and opened my door. I walked into my office hoping that the picture Sookie drew me would get me through this fucking meeting.

It just may have been my only hope.

 **And Eric probably needs many hopes to get through a meeting with Madden. I do hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Many thanks to the editing skills of MsBuffy.**


	7. Chapter 6

My meeting with Madden was even worse than I thought it could have been. It was long, much too long, for the nonsense it held. Perhaps if it had actually had a purpose other than keeping me miserable as he was seemingly determined to do; in fact, the first thirty minutes of the meeting was simply Victor attempting to find where I had "vanished" to the previous evening.

That was something he was never going to discover, but, Gods! Did he try!

He persisted even after I told him in a most politically correct manner that he did not own one hundred percent of all my evenings. He still did not stop when I told him the same thing in a much _less_ politically correct manner. I was eager for a subject change, thinking the more quickly I learned about his probable and ridiculous reason for demanding to meet with me, the quicker I could return to Sookie.

Yet, even as I was answering the same question for what seemed as if the thousandth time, it felt as if I would not get out of there at all soon. So, in order to give him a boon and in an attempt to get out of there before the sun rose, I gave him an answer. I modestly told him that it had been an issue with my wife.

I hated having to bring Sookie into at all; she was the one thing I was determined to keep safe, to leave out of these vampire politics. It was why I had spent my nights over these last months with Madden and de Castro, and not with her. I was doing everything in my power to keep their focus away from her, even going as far as hurting my relationship with her as her voicemail indicated.

Still, it was not fucking enough! To end his inquiring, I nevertheless had to bring her up, still had to bring her into it. I knew by saying the word, "issue," he would equate that to a problem which would have been an apt description of the current concern. However, he would also assume my words meant a personal issue. That sure as hell would have explained my mood during the meeting given that for the first time, I did not hold back my disdain for Madden. Of course, he thought it was more about, well, whatever he thought was going on with Sookie and me.

I tried to ignore the fact that even if nothing else had happened to Sookie, her voicemail message to me proved that there were, indeed, personal issues between us, ones that I hoped we could solve before long. Of course, I had another issue to solve before we could even start working on the personal ones. Nothing I could do about that at the present though.

Instead I listened and growled my disapproval as Madden told me how I could run my Area. He did not want me taking in more vampires, making it that more difficult to pay the increases he had bestowed upon me the other night. Sure, he blamed "overcrowding" in Area 5, and said that vampires should be encouraged relocation to New Orleans to help rebuild, but that was not truly the stimulus for his words. No, he did not want me welcoming any more vampires to my Area because he did not want to give me an opportunity to have more who were loyal to me.

As much as I hated to admit it, Felipe and Victor were not idiots though it would be so much simpler if they were. They did not have much fight nor resistance in Arkansas seeing as that state was already reeling from the death of its king. Louisiana was completely different story though. They were going to have resistance every step of the way; they knew it, and proved they had planned for it by installing Victor as Regent. It had only been official for a few nights, but already the response was not a favorable one, well, not favorable to Felipe and Madden.

I was happy when Victor called an end to the meeting, having given me enough limits for one evening. I was sure that over the next few nights I would get more, but I would deal with those as they came, much in the same way as I was dealing with what he had given me that night in my head already. I would not allow more vampires into Area 5; that would be something that Victor would easily keep monitored, but I would not encourage them to go to New Orleans. I would have them go to Area 4, and with the Sheriff there, we could work together with what we had. Meanwhile, I would continue to support the rebuilding of New Orleans by following the plans my Queen had put into motion before she was killed.

I had plans of following Victor's edicts, just not the way he intended them to be carried out. I would continue as I did for Sophie-Anne; I would do what was best for the state. I would do what was best for my people and the state of Louisiana, and anyone who got in the way of that would wind up dead.

Perhaps finally. Eventually.

I made certain that Victor had left Fangtasia before I started home. I meant it when I said I did not want him there if either Pam or I were not. The bar held too much information, it was hidden well, but it was still there. Once I was sure he was gone for good, I took off heading for home. When I landed outside my house I paused to look at it. I had dreamed of bringing Sookie to my home, any of my homes, to live with me; for her to agree to that step. I had that now and though it may not have been exactly what I had in mind, it was something I was going to make certain was not wasted.

There was a strange car in my driveway, which I assumed belonged to Amelia. I was certainly glad to have someone who could stay with Sookie during the day. What I had awoken to that evening had definitely shown me how large my oversight had been. It was one that I was certain I would be sure not to make again. However, as good as it was to have Amelia there, I was worried about yet another person having the information regarding what had happened with Sookie. I had enough understanding to know that the witch might be able to give us more information than we could find on our own. That did not mean I was pleased with the idea of another person having the knowledge of something being "wrong," for lack of a better term, with Sookie. That was something else that was bothering me, the terms to use. She was still the same person though there were vast differences. Whether those differences were due to magic, a spell, or a curse I did not know. I was determined to find out. That was the only part of this scenario where I felt a hundred percent confident.

As I walked into my house, I found a note waiting for me on the kitchen table. Pam let me know that she had gone to her rest early. With no other sounds coming from the house, I assumed Amelia had gone with her and was most likely the reason she retired early. A noise in the kitchen was the only reason that I did not join them in my own room and bed, of course.

I was not very eager to see what was making my child to feel that way.

I moved into the kitchen just in time to see Sookie trying to run out of it through the other entrance. I called her name, probably too sharply than I intended, and when she stopped suddenly and looked at me with shame-filled eyes, I realized it. I only hoped I had not managed to undo whatever it was I had done right in the bathroom with her in that second.

I was a little bothered by the fact that she was alone, but I felt Pam close by and soon enough my child appeared from around a hallway. "She's been up for a few minutes," she told me softly enough for Sookie to hear.

"Did the witch have any ideas?" I asked, never once taking my eyes off of Sookie. When she saw that Pam had my attention, she continued to move about my kitchen, being sure to glance back at me every few seconds.

"She said she has some points on where to start," Pam told me before she explained what she meant. Amelia had never seen something as out of the ordinary as Sookie seemed to be. She had heard of magic trapping someone in a younger version of them, but they had retained their adult memories. She knew of spells designed to take memories away, something with which I was too familiar, but they did not return the cursed to their childhood forms. "She asked Sookie some questions and knows where she will start looking for answers tomorrow.

With the way my child answered, I knew there was a little more to the story that she had left out. "What else?"

Pam hesitated before she explained that this Sookie seemed to have thought of Amelia as loud of a broadcaster as her adult counterpart. "Amelia said that she had things she could use to try and fix that," Pam hurried to explain. I was relieved to know that. As much as I did not want Sookie in pain due to an overabundance of loud thoughts, she needed supervision during the daylight hours. Amelia would make sure that nothing happened to her during the day. As much as I may have tried to deny it, Amelia cared for Sookie and would make sure she had the best.

Yet, when it came to Amelia, I was just not certain what she believed what the best was for Sookie. That was my only concern with the young witch. Well, that, and now the loud and knowing the witch-inappropriate thoughts.

"I do not want Sookie to be uncomfortable," I told Pam.

Pam nodded and said, "Neither do I," when Sookie walked to the refrigerator, but hesitated to open it. She still had not noticed my presence or Pam's. I wondered at this young age if she could still feel or notice the voids that she had come to describe as vampire brains. Pam took my hand in hers while we watched Sookie struggle with the decision of opening the door. She was probably thinking about what had happened when I rose for the evening.

I hated seeing her so unsure of herself. It was a side of Sookie she rarely let others see.

"Amelia is talking to someone, another witch, to see if she can somehow block her thoughts, " Pam told me. That was all I could hope for at that time. "We will get her back," Pam said as she squeezed my hand. I squeezed hers in return, knowing that she too needed comfort at that moment. I echoed her words softly, thinking that I would accept nothing else. Pam then gave me a kiss on the check before she walked down the hallway that led to our bedrooms.

That left me trying to figure out just what Sookie was up to in my kitchen. Why was it again my kitchen?

"Sookie," I called again, softer this time in both volume and tone. She looked up at me before she quickly looked down again. I searched my mind as I tried to find the right words to ask what she was doing. My limited interaction with her in either form or whatever you could call them, had shown me that anything interpreted as accusatory would get me nowhere. Finally I settled on, "Did you need something?"

She looked up at me with hope in her eyes and it nearly killed me. Sookie had looked at me with those eyes before, usually right as I had to crush that hope. I repeated my question when she stayed silent, and finally got a nod in response. That was it, a simple nod of her head.

Here I had thought adult Sookie kept me guessing…

I still had no idea what Sookie was doing in my kitchen and I wanted to know. There were so many questions I had in my head that I wanted to ask, to determine why she was not in bed, but I felt they were all reactionary and would be harsh.

So I bit my tongue, quite literally in fact.

"I woke up," she told me adding the unnecessary 'd' onto the end of the word. "Gran makes me milk when I can't get back to sleep." I noticed how she said "Gran" rather than her parents as if even when she was physically the size she was when her parents were rearing her, she knew that it was her grandmother who had raised her. Not that it gave me much information, but it could have been helpful in trying to discover exactly what she remembered.

Of course, I had very little, more like no, information to go on at that moment, I was no closer to determining what happened to Sookie and it was something that I did not like.

"Would you like a glass of milk?" I asked her sure that I had gotten the white liquid from the store. She nodded her head and I took out a glass. I would have to get something more child-friendly, and I poured her a small cup. I held it out and she took it from me, even taking a small sip of it, but I could tell something was wrong. I must have poured it wrong or something. Were there different kinds of milk? The look on her face told me I had done something wrong, but I had no idea what.

I was about to ask her what was wrong with the white liquid when she said in a very small voice," Can you warm it up for me?" I immediately told her I would, but then I was stuck not knowing how exactly. I doubted that sticking it in the stove would be the correct thing. I finally decided on the microwave, but then the decision became about timing. Too long and it would be too hot, and then burn her; too cold would not give her…whatever she was looking for from the warm milk. I picked a time, deciding it should not be that different from microwaving a bottled blood.

I hoped for Sookie's sake the warm milk would taste better than that sludge.

I had taken the glass out of the microwave and did not like how warm the glass felt against my skin. I understood my body temperature was a quite cooler than hers, which could have been why the glass felt warm. I did not want to take any chances though, so I poured the warm milk into a new glass and took it over to Sookie. She blew out onto the hot liquid, maybe to try and cool it down.

"Eric," she said in question while she put the cup down. "Am I going to live with you? Like more than just a sleepover?" she asked and I remembered our conversation while we were still at her house. She did not look at me at all with her question as if she was afraid. I did not know if she was afraid to just ask the question, or if she was afraid of the possible answers to it. I did not know which answer would take that fear away and that was all that I hoped for. I ignored my thoughts about wanting Sookie to ask me that question, hoping a positive answer would be one she wanted.

I hoped it was something that this Sookie wanted here and now as it was the only answer I had.

Not wanting to scare her even more with a simple "Yes," I asked her, "Is that something you would like?"

She finally looked up at me, and looked so much like the Sookie I was used to that, for a second, I got lost in her eyes. I did want her here as she answered, "Yes." I felt my heart soar at that simple word, something else that was a bit unexpected. I also did not expect her to continue as she did when she told me that I made warm milk almost as good as her Gran did.

Neither one of us missed that she had spoken of her grandmother in the past tense.

"Gran won't make me milk anymore, will she?" she asked me in a small, tiny voice. It matched her older counterpart's voice when she tried to hold back tears, which was far too often in my opinion.

"No," I merely responded, hating that was all I had at that moment. I would have to see how she reacted before I determined what I would next say. Sookie though simply closed her eyes, gave me a little nod before her eyes opened, and then took more sips of her milk. It was as though she had known the answer already and was just looking to make sure she had the information correct.

Once she finished her milk, I told her that it was time to get back into bed. She did not fight it; instead she carried her glass over to the counter and put it next to the sink. She then came over and took my hand, and started to lead me down to her bedroom. She got onto the bed with a little help. I moved the bed covers, making sure she would not be cold during the night.

I am just about to turn and leave her when she asked, "Will you play with me outside tomorrow, Eric?" It may have only been my second night with this version of Sookie, but I could already hear the hope in her voice and I could not answer right away; I was not ready to dash that hope. It was then that a thought came crashing into my head. I had most likely been dashing the hope in Sookie for weeks now, ever since I had stayed with her.

"I cannot," I told her. "Though it would be much more fun than sleeping the day away." I did not know how much longer I could go on without telling her more about what I really was. There were times when I thought her quick acceptance was a sign that she remembered me, but not remembering that I was a vampire proved that she did not, not really.

I hesitated in telling her because I did not want to scare her. Sookie was very open-minded about vampires and other Supernaturals whom she had learned about, perhaps too open-minded when it came to a few of them. Still, with her living here I was not sure how much longer I would be able to keep this secret.

She started to pout, but yawned halfway, and it reminded me that her bedtime was long gone past due. I smoothed her hair back one last time before wishing her a goodnight, stood up, and started to make my way out of the bedroom.

 **Conversation over warm milk. Always exciting, at least it would be with the company Sookie had. I do hope you enjoyed their conversation and the rest of the chapter. Much thanks to MsBuffy and her help with editing.**

 **Still having uploading issues but I was able to get a few done while FF was deciding to play nice so it won't be as long for the next one.**


	8. Chapter 7

I woke up after the sun set to a much better emotional state coming off of Sookie. That, however, unfortunately, did not mean it was a necessarily good feeling. Though it was definitely not how Sookie felt yesterday when I rose from my rest, they were still not the feelings I would have liked to receive. When I walked into the living room to see her and Amelia staring at each other, I gave myself three guesses.

As it turned out, I only needed one.

Amelia had, indeed, found a way to block Sookie from her thoughts, from all of her thoughts. Apparently for Sookie, having three minds she could not read was her limit, and judging by the looks on the two female faces she had reached that limit. As the two seemed close to tears, I was left wondering at what time during the afternoon that limit had been reached.

It was yet another thing I should have seen coming. Sookie could be emotional even when she was trying to hide it. Her decisions were often based on her emotions. I could not expect her to be so different as a child, or in any more control.

That did not make me hurt any less when she reacted once she saw me.

"Now you! I can't hear you either!" she yelled before she ran up the stairs and slammed the door. I wanted to run right after her. I would run after her; I just needed to figure out what I should do first.

That left me glaring at Amelia, wondering what the fuck had happened this afternoon.

Her hands were up in front of her as if she was trying to protect herself. Yeah, those hands would not have helped her one bit if I had really wanted to go after her. Luckily for her, I wanted answers more than I wanted her head at that moment, at least.

"What happened?" I asked the witch just as Pam appeared. My voice was steady and calm, which had Pam inching closer to Amelia. She knew what it meant when my voice was so calm and that steady.

It was never anything good for the person on the receiving end of that voice.

"She didn't take a nap," Amelia said while she shrugged her shoulders as if that explained everything. For all I knew, it could have. I may not have understood what a nap had to do with Sookie's little tantrum, but Amelia seemed sure it would be enough of an explanation as to why Sookie was so upset.

It was not, not for me anyway.

Amelia must have seen that on my face because she quickly continued to explain that small humans get cranky when they have not had enough sleep. I did not find that much different than adult humans. _Or vampires that have not found the answers that they were searching for._

"I doubt she would have reacted much differently if she had gotten in her afternoon sleep," I told Amelia. The whole situation, the confusion, and frustration would be bothersome to grown Sookie, most likely any adult person. I would imagine it would be multiplied in a child.

I did remember that my children used to throw tantrums, similar to what Sookie had done, both human and vampire, in fact, when you counted Pam. Ignoring them usually meant that more would happen. That was something that I would plan to do all I could to make certain it did not happen again. The thought of Sookie being so upset was what sealed the deal for me.

I then decided to take a risk and talk things over with Sookie. Although I was not exactly sure my skills in talking to tiny humans would be enough, I had to attempt it.

For Sookie.

I walked to the door of Sookie's room that was still closed after she slammed it shut. I could hear her sniffling as she tried to calm herself and anger filled me. I had no doubt that I would ever be able to take Sookie crying at any age, especially if, no matter how inadvertent, I was the sole cause.

I slowly opened the door and was not surprised to see her lying in bed with her back to me. Her little shoulders shook while she worked to get her breathing under control. I wanted to say something, say many somethings, but, I hesitated having no idea where to start so I started simply with her name.

I should not have been surprised when she ignored me. Fuck, I probably would have ignored me.

I usually had plenty of words for every situation because often my very life depended on it. Words were very important. This part-fairy though often stole all my words. I had found that it was no less true with her as a child.

"You must be very confused," I finally said after another minute or two of silence. I had avoided using the word scared as I was not quite sure how she might react to that particular word, but if her mind was truly that of the five-year-old she appeared to be, scared would most likely be an apt description of her emotional state.

I still had not received a verbal response, but she did tense before she seemingly became more relaxed after my words.

"I would be very confused," I continued. She needed to know that what she was feeling was okay. "New house, new people," I hesitated. I knew it needed saying, but I also was afraid of what it might bring up. Still, I was not afraid enough _to not_ raise the topic. It was what Sookie, even in her current form, deserved. "New people whose minds you cannot hear. For you, it must seem very confusing."

She turned on her other side and looked at me when I said that. I stayed quiet and gave her the chance to think through what I told her. I had acknowledged the fact that I knew of her ability, an ability I was sure that at this point in her life she was told to hide. I had just made it clear to her that I knew her secret. It might have made her more likely to open up to me, to trust in someone.

Or it could terrify her even further.

I should have known it would have led to more questions. "Can you hear inside voices too?" she asked me in a small voice. No matter how small it was, I could still hear her hope in it. Sookie had liked it when the vampires came out; she had enjoyed learning about all the Supernaturals she had met, no matter how much they had complicated her life. Sookie did not want to be the only one who was different, not as an adult and apparently not as a child either.

Yet I had had to dash that hope. Again. It was something that I was becoming much too used to with Sookie. It was something that, no matter what my intent, I was not able to stop doing. If this was my only chance, I was going to make sure that I would do everything I could in order to ensure that it stopped.

Her way of wording her ability surprised me as well. I supposed that at her age level that may have been the best way to help her understand what she was hearing. Despite all that I had wished, her face still fell as I told her that no, I could not hear a person's 'inside voice' as she had worded it.

"I am the only person who can," she said with a sigh that turned into a bit of a cry. I could see that she was doing her best to hold them in, but her little body just could not, not all of them anyway.

"I did not say that I did not know anyone else who could not," I told her. That gave her a little more help with trying to hold in her tears. I did not miss that her hands were starting to run through her hair, wrapping it around her fingers and fists. Memories of my own children doing so with hair a similar color started to dance through my mind.

"Other people can?" she asked me as her little voice rose higher in pitch while it filled with hope.

I knelt down next to the bed so she did not have to look up. "I know others that can," I told her softly, trying to stay away from the term "people." The others I knew who had the ability would certainly not fall under the "people" category.

I know some who are really strong, and some who can do magic, and I know some who can fly," I told her, letting her know that in no way was she the only one who was different. She should know all this though, she did know all of it. I grew more confused when my thoughts went back to her singing. The songs were not ones that she would know when she was this age. Were her memories still in there somewhere? Did she just have to be presented with something that reminded her of something? If that was the case, why did she not remember me? I was just getting more and more questions with this scenario and zero answers. That had better start changing.

She appeared to do very well with all of the information as she excitedly yelled, "Fly?" in my face after the word left my mouth.

I smiled at her, and her pronunciation of the word. She was so excited as she said the word that her 'l' was pronounced the way one would pronounce a 'w.' I was happy that she did not appear to have any green stuff coming out of her nose after this last crying round.

"Yes. I know creatures that can fly," I told her. "One may even be in this room."

She quickly looked around before she looked back to me with a confused expression on her face when she saw that it was just the two of us in there. "Who?" she asked.

"You!" I told her before taking her into my arms, lifting her up, and carrying her around the room. She squirmed at first in my arms unsure of what I was doing, but soon she was giggling. I took her around the room a few times before she landed back on her bed.

The giggling subsided when I put her on the bed though. "What is wrong?" I asked when her smile slipped away.

"I thought someone could really fly," she told me, her pronunciation correct this time, all the excitement having disappeared in her tone.

"Well, maybe," I started off telling her before I made a quick decision I hoped I would not come to regret. "Maybe tomorrow after the sun sets, I will show you who can really fly," I just hoped she could handle it.

"Really, really fly?" she asked.

"Really, really, really fly," I told her, not believing that many 'reallys' came out of my mouth. "Though now I think it is important that you go to bed so you are wide awake to see it tomorrow," I added when I took notice of the time.

I expected a bit of a fight, but did not get one. Instead she worked on getting under the covers and I made sure she was all covered before sitting on the floor again. "Did you have fun with Amelia today?" I asked. I would ensure she would tomorrow if the answer was no.

It was not though, but Sookie did say she would have to apologize for her yelling. "We shouldn't yell," she told me.

Shit. If she thought yelling was bad, I did not want to think of what her thoughts would be on the other aspects of my life. She was probably correct with what she had been taught in the past regarding yelling though.

"You should not yell," I told her confirming her words. "It is all right to be angry, but you need to discuss the issue. That way it can be fixed." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized that this was something that I did not practice with Sookie, especially in the last months. I hoped I had a chance to heed my own advice.

"No more yelling," she said earnestly. 

"More talking," I added before I told her goodnight, starting to rise to my feet.

I did not get very far. "Will you read me a story?" she asked, words not nearly discernible with her big yawn.

"I do not have any books to read to you," I told her, upset that even in this I disappointed her.

"Will you tell me a story?" she asked, sounding even more hopeful than when she had asked for me to read a book. A story was something I could do.

"I can," I told her and I delighted in the happy smile that decorated her face. "I will tell you when Princess Sookie rescued Prince Eric," I said. I have heard the expression of a human's face lighting up, but I did not recall ever having seen it before that particular moment.

"The princess rescues the prince?" she asked excitedly. The words were not exactly clear with her little nose clogged up after crying and with her little lisp, but she got her point across. She was used to the prince being the person who rescues the princess. I had had a feeling that would not be the case with the blond in front of me after the first time she walked into my bar, no matter how much I would have liked it to have been the usual stereotype.

"Yes, Princess Sookie rescues Prince Eric more than she even knows," I told her as I tried to change my voice to sound a little more mysterious. I do not know if I succeeded, but Sookie sat up a little higher on the bed. That did not seem conducive to making her fall asleep, but I was not about to dissuade her.

I did not want to see her face without that smile.

Story time would be serving two purposes, the most important of which was to keep that smile on her face. The second was to feel her out a bit, see how well young Sookie might respond to vampires. So I told her the story of how the brave Princess Sookie rescued Prince Eric from a burning building, and though I may have downplayed the bombs, explosive devices, and may have turned the coffin into a chair, all the other details were basically the same. Even Prince Eric's aversion to sunlight and his need to sleep during the day were included.

It was around the time when the chair landed on the sun-ridden street that I realized Sookie's breathing had evened out in sleep. It was also then that I realized at some point during the story, her hand had found its way into mine. I stood up, careful not to wake her or to dislodge my hand from hers, not wanting to lose that small connection.

Her hair had fallen across her face, not wanting it to tickle her and wake her up while she slept, I gently swept it off her face with the hand that was not currently grasped onto hers. Her face in sleep was relaxed, something I was thankful I had when my memories returned of the time I was cursed. Sookie had been able to sleep peacefully during that time and had a look similar to the one she was wearing at that moment.

Yet it was one she never wore in her sleep on any of the nights I stayed with her after the Faery War. It was one I doubt she wore on her face any of the nights ever since then either. That was something that I hoped to change.

I carefully took my hand out of hers and once again started to make my way out of the room when something began to creep into my mind. It seems I had not done it gently enough as Sookie's little voice called out, "Night, Eric," when I made it to the door.

I looked back expecting to see her little eyes open and her to ask for a glass of water, to go to the bathroom, or whatever the vermin said their children did to get out of going to sleep when they come to Fangtasia. Sookie's eyes remained closed. She must have mumbled it, not having been as deeply asleep as I thought. I stayed there, looking at her for a few more seconds to make sure that she did not awaken. When she made no other signs that she was awake, I softly said into the room, "Goodnight, Princess Sookie." Before I had the door closed all the way, I swear that I saw her smile in her sleep, probably from a good dream.

That did not keep me from pretending it was from my words though.

I walked back to the living room where Pam and Amelia were talking in hushed voices. Their quiet voices were no bother to me; I had heard them even in Sookie's room. I imagined they did not want their conversation to be overheard down the hall by the tiny ears attached to the girl who was asleep.

The conversation stopped once I entered the room. Pam would have heard me as I walked down the hall, so it was not her who saw the need to end the conversation so abruptly. The way that Amelia jumped as soon as I entered the room told me that the young witch was afraid of me, though it was more that, she was afraid of my reaction to Sookie's reaction.

If she had done anything to produce Sookie's reaction, she would have been correct to be afraid.

Still, I could not place blame on her. She had done something that she had thought would help Sookie by blocking her mind to her, and she had no idea that Sookie would not appreciate that. It was also something I would have to try to ensure that did not happen again.

"Did you find anything?" I asked her. After having spent the day with Sookie, I actually did not expect her to have much information; after all, she was there during the day to make sure that Sookie stayed safe and unharmed. I could not expect her to be able to do the potentially difficult research while she took care of a small, scared child.

I might not have expected her to, but that did not mean I had not wanted her to do that very thing.

"Yes and no," she told me, and judging by the look that happened upon her face and the increase of her heart rate, I did not look happy at her words. There was a simple explanation for that, I was not happy at her words. A simple no would have sufficed and been understandable. Mixing that with a, 'yes,' and color me confused. And angry. And impatient.

"It wasn't a spell," she blurted out when I took a step closer. Pam was intelligently staying quiet, but I did not miss how she herself took a step closer to Amelia. It was probably not for the same reason.

I just continued to stare at Amelia. This would usually be a sign to continue to speak or explain. It was not with Amelia. In fact, it seemed to be just the opposite with Amelia. I opened my mouth to ask her to continue her explanation, but Pam beat me to it.

Her words may have been a bit more nicely put than mine.

Amelia swallowed and gathered herself before starting to explain her words. Whatever happened to Sookie did not feel like a spell. Witches could pick up the signature of magic; they could determine when a spell had been used. There was no signature that she could find on Sookie.

"It has been a while since it happened," I told her. "Could the signature have worn off?"

She shook her head becoming more confident as the magic discussion continued. "There would always be one as long as the spell continued. Since Sookie is still the size of a child, whatever happened to her is ongoing. I should be able to sense the spell."

"Yet you are getting nothing?"

"No evidence of any spell cast on her."

My mind searched through all other Supernaturals I know that could have pulled off something like this. There were not many, but there were enough that would make it difficult for me when trying to narrow down the possibilities.

"Any other ideas?" I said. It was more of thinking out loud than actually asking a question, but that did not keep it from being answered.

"Are you familiar with any demons?" Amelia asked with hesitancy that had crept back into her voice.

I did. I knew several demons, in fact. I heard a vibrating noise, and Pam sighed before she tossed her phone to me. Okay, so it might have been more of a throw than a toss as if she could have somehow hurt the person who was on the other line with as hard as she had thrown the phone. When I saw the thirty-one phone calls and eleven voicemails all from the same number, I wished that she could have injured the person on the other end of the phone. Finally killed him would have been the better option.

As soon as I was off the phone with Victor, I was going to call a certain half-demon I knew.


	9. Chapter 8

I picked up the phone and said, "Yes, Victor," in a way that was probably far less respectful for one in his position called. It was the best he was going to get from me at that moment. I was of the opinion that respect was something that one earned; it was not just something that was freely given without a reason. Victor had done nothing to earn my respect, and I doubted that he ever would, even if I gave him the opportunity and I had no plans to do anything of that kind.

Moreover, if that made me a bad, bad vampire, so be it.

However, it was not Madden on the phone and I did not have much respect for the vampire who was on the receiving end. Unfortunately I did need to fake it somewhat a bit more when I dealt with him. I only hoped it was for a little while longer.

"Not exactly the best way to answer a call from your Regent, or at least from his phone," Felipe's voice rang out. That was when I realized I had been set up. The problem was I that was no closer to determining just who, in fact, had arranged it. It could be either of them. At this point, I was just trying to determine whom I first needed to finally kill. However, at the time, it did not seem that I would be able to only kill one of them.

"My apologies, Your Majesty," I bit out; doing my best to make sure it did not sound as if I was saying it through clenched teeth.

He hummed in response and I did not know him enough to understand what that meant. If it had been Sophie-Anne, it would have meant to duck and cover indicating it was a sign that she was not pleased. With Sophie-Anne, I would have also had an idea of how to respond in a way that would have diffused the situation. Unfortunately, that was most certainly not the case with current monarch and his regent.

Nothing that I had observed from Felipe made sense in all I had heard about him. It really made me think that Victor was truly the one with the power. When it came to me that was not a good thing. The two of them seemed to have very different opinions regarding my survival after the takeover. Felipe seemed open to having me in his retinue, excited about it even, provided I fully supported him.

Victor was making that difficult, if not damn impossible.

"I am here at your bar waiting on you to discuss something very important as to the safety of our states. Imagine my surprise that at this difficult time, an hour after sunset, neither you nor or your child have yet to show."

I showed restraint when I did not point out that he, himself, was the reason that we were in this 'difficult' time and, if were up to me, he could get himself out of it and try to knit these states together. On the other hand, I had a stake I could let him and Madden borrow to end them, and it might be enough to get us out of this mess.

"I am heading there now," I told him, or I would be as soon as I hung up this damn phone. If Felipe was there, I could not afford trying to put him off as I would have if it were simply Madden who had called.

"Good, good," Felipe said, and I did not like the tone I heard in his voice. "There is something important I need to tell you."

I did not miss his use of the word ' _tell'_. He did not say ' _discuss'_. He did not say 'l _et you know'_. He said ' _tell'_. Already, even prior to the actual discussion, he was trying to ensure my control was limited. If he was going to tell me something, that left very little room for me to try to maneuver around something that I most probably would dislike.

At least that was his hope.

However, the more interaction I had with them, the more I was learning about them and the ways in which they worked as well. That was something that I could use to learn how to outmaneuver them in their own situations.

At least that was my hope.

"I look forward to it," I told him, lying through my teeth. It was something he would expect. He would expect me to fight back in any small way I could. Right now, I had to do what he expected and allow him to believe he had more control than he did.

More as if I could imagine that I had more control than I did if I was honest with myself.

I decided to fly to Fangtasia. I was tempted to drive as that would be the slower choice, but ultimately I decided not to prolong the inevitable. In reality I had thought the sooner I arrived and dealt with what was sure to be a torturous meeting, the sooner I could get back home and to all that was there.

In theory anyway. It could have also meant that I just had to suffer longer, but I was willing to take my chances if it got me home sooner.

I should have driven.

I could take Madden. Sure, it usually took all of my carefully taught control to not rip his head from his shoulders, but Victor alone I could tolerate. It turned out; Victor with Felipe was something that I could not take as well as I could take Victor alone. The vampire was bad enough when it was simply him I had to deal with; throw in the monarch, or at least the monarch in name, and Victor's arrogance tripled while my patience was cut in half. Honestly, it was more like cut in a third.

The three of us did make it through the meeting though. Saying that it was close to being not true would have been quite the understatement. I wanted to rip their heads from their shoulders. I could feel their skin, their shirts under my fingers. It would have been so simple for me. However, the reason that they left my office with their heads still firmly attached to their shoulders was that the consequences of their deaths would have been anything but simple. I had not yet had the opportunity to plan for all the contingencies their deaths could have potentially caused, to ensure that everyone I cared for would not only have survived their deaths, but were in a good position afterward. That was the only reason that they survived that meeting.

My desk chair was not so lucky after they left my office.

I left the club feeling dejected. I had no control over any of the situations in where I'd found myself, and that was a rather daunting feeling. Not only did I have no control, I could not even stop them from spiraling even further out of control. I had seen this coming. I knew what they would do, what I would do if I was in their position. Though I had other motivations, it was one of the reasons that I had Sookie present me with the knife and become my wife. I had done it to protect her although it was most certainly my love for her that kept me wanting to ensure that she was protected. It was a mistake.

Not wanting to protect her, nor wanting her to be my wife, those were not my mistakes. In fact, those may have been my two best decisions, if you could call love a decision. My mistake was the way in which I had her do it with no explanation, with none of my feelings exposed, and then coupled with little to no contact over the last few months, it was no wonder she had left the message she did on my phone.

I like to think of myself as reasonably intelligent. I doubt that I could have survived a thousand years if that statement was untrue. Yet when it came to Sookie, I did not think that was something I could say.

There was one thing of which I certain, one hundred percent certain, even if I did not yet have a solid plan. Neither de Castro nor Madden would get their hands on my wife. I did not care in what form we were discussing; they would not lay a hand on Sookie.

Felipe wanted Sookie to use her ability. It was something that I had been expecting and something that I had been counting on. I, however, did not plan that he would want her to listen to every single human employed by vampires in the three states. I did not plan for her to be a mere child when he requested this. With all my planning, with all my backup plans, I never once thought either of these scenarios would happen.

Yet, here I was, faced with the both of them.

I would have barely allowed de Castro and Madden to use Sookie and her ability if she was a consenting adult. I would not have been able to give an outright no; Sookie would not have been able to give an outright no as an answer, but I would have fought to make sure she was protected. I would not have had it any other way.

However, with Sookie as a child, that was not someone that I could ever simply just hand over to them. That was something that I could never even let them have any awareness about. I did not even want to imagine what they could do with that information, what kind of control they might try to exert over Sookie and myself. If this was something they would continue to push, and there was no doubt in my mind that they would, I had very little time to try and resolve whatever the fuck happened to Sookie. I would delay, and that would probably cause them to push even more.

This would cause me to push them over a cliff if need be to protect Sookie. That meant I had to come up with contingency plans sooner than I would have liked. Hurried plans tend not to be the best plans and that was something that concerned me. I also needed to plan how to make Madden and de Castro become sludge in the ground.

I had so many plans to make.

I landed in a yard, and it took me a second to realize where I had flown. It was a yard that I recognized, but it was not one of my mine. It was Sookie's. I should have been surprised that I had mindlessly flown here, but I was not. I had been drawn to Sookie since she had first stepped foot in my bar. Sure the reason for the draw may have changed, but I was not about to lie and deny its presence.

Having taken that into consideration, it was no surprise that this was where I ended up after having left Fangtasia. It should have been a shock to me that when I felt like this, I would go toward something that I was drawn to; something that this draw to had been increasing almost nightly. I could not be with that person, not really anyway, but I could be somewhere where I felt close to her.

I took Sookie's keys out of my pocket and unlocked her front door. I had taken to carrying them with me since I had discovered them at her house the night I found her in the woods. I did not want anything to happen to her. I did not want anyone, or anything, to gain entry into her house.

I went in and I watered the plants she had inside, not wanting her to come back to dead plants. I noticed then that there were dishes in the sink. Okay, it may have been more that my nose followed this horrible smell to the sink, but once I got there, I saw what had produced the smell. I washed the dishes to ensure that Sookie would not come back to a smelly house.

It may have been the first time I had ever washed dishes. If it was for Sookie, it may not be the last.

I continued to walk through the house, making sure I righted anything that seemed out of place or not up to Sookie's standards. That included dusting a few things. It may or may not have been my first time washing dishes, but I was positive that it was my first time dusting anything. However, Sookie took pride in her house, something I had gathered from conversations that her grandmother had taught her. Taking pride in something that is yours was something that I could understand.

Once the house passed my inspection and seemed like it would pass Sookie's, I sat down on the couch and made my phone call to the half-demon, Desmond Cataliades. I should have known he would not pick up the phone; no, I just had not been that lucky lately. I left a message asking him to call me back. When he had been working for Sophie-Anne, he would get back in a reasonable time. I hoped that that was a trend that would continue.

I did not know if I had enough sanity to keep Sookie's situation a secret, deal with Felipe and Victor while simultaneously plotting their final deaths, and search dimensions for a half-demon; that may have put me over the edge.

I would give him until tomorrow night, and then I would find out how over the edge it would send me.

As I was about to leave, I saw a bag just outside the kitchen, back behind where the laundry machines could be found. I moved closer to check it only to find it was a bag of laundry, but not Sookie's laundry judging by the clothes that were in the bag. They were clearly men's clothes and by the scent of them, they belonged to Sookie's brother. He had probably dropped them off thinking his sister would wash them. While part of me would be angry that Jason was assuming his sister would do his wash for him, I also knew it was something Sookie enjoyed doing for her brother. She did like to help others.

The bag of laundry did make me nervous though. Jason was intelligent, even if he appeared not to be at times. He would realize that his sister was 'missing,' at least to his knowledge. If he appeared to be looking for his sister, that would not be good.

Yet another addition to this situation that I would have to solve.

I took my leave of Sookie's house, making sure that I locked the door securely behind me. I hoped that I would not have to come back in a few nights to ensure the upkeep of the house. I hoped the next time it would need to be dusted or cleaned Sookie would be able to do it. Moreover, I would be there to help her.

I flew home, taking my time as I thought through plans, and I thought through all that I knew about demons. Demons did not necessarily hold much magic themselves however; there were species of demons that were close to beings that hold a good bit of magic.

That was the thought that almost sent me falling from the sky.

Fairies. Fucking fairies!

Demons and fairies tended to get along better than other species of Supernaturals, especially when it came to mischief. I did not know, especially with what happened mere months ago, why I did not account for the possibility of Sookie's Fae relatives. They should have been my first suspects! I could have blamed my shock of the situation, but I should have been able to have enough control to think clearly and determine this possibility.

This was something Cataliades should be able to help me with whenever he called me back. He knew demons and he knew fairies. At least I had some starting points. I could continue to research, and with hope, he would be able to fill in the blanks.

Come to think of it, the demon lawyer might also be able to help me with a few contingency plans. For the first time since the night of the takeover, I had hope. Sure, it was a minuscule amount of hope, but it was something with which I could work. It was something that I could make grow.

I got back to my house with only an hour left until sunrise. I quietly went in; sensing that Sookie was asleep and I did not want to wake her. I sat down on my couch in the dark. I expected the little footsteps when I heard them; it had become somewhat of a nightly routine. It was one that as much as I wished she would get some uninterrupted sleep, I was not about to do anything to stop. It was our time, our nightly time that I wished I could have given her in the months prior. I hated that it took this to make me see it.

However, it was not something that I was going to be stopping. It was something that I would enjoy while I had it. It was something that I would do anything to make sure continued once we figured out what exactly happened to Sookie.

Then Sookie opened her mouth and said something. I had not thought this situation could have made me any more confused, but I should have known better. That was something I was not going to think again. It was turning out to be a very dangerous thought. I was already confused, and the words that came out of Sookie's mouth only caused further that confusion.

"Princess Sookie and Prince Eric didn't ride a chair out the window. They rided on a coffin."

 **Hello dear readers. I do hope that you have enjoyed this chapter as Sookie's words leave us with something to ponder about. I wonder what they could mean…**

 **Many thank to MsBuffy for looking this chapter over and her fantabulous editing.**

 **I was able to upload this and the next chapter tonight before FF stopped playing nicely. Barring any other complications, it should not be as long as a wait for the next chapter over here.**


	10. Chapter 9

I made her repeat herself just to make sure that I was not imagining her words, imagining her, as she stood right there in front of me. Her words did not change when she repeated them. She once more informed me that it was on a _coffin_ we rode out the window and not a _chair_ as I had told her in the story. She would have no way of knowing that; even at her current young age and her parents still alive in her world, she would have no reason to even know the word coffin. Still, she had said it.

That had left me wondering, once again, just what the fuck was going on.

I had to say something, those eyes were staring at me much like their adult counterpart did and would not have it any other way. What was there to say? I had to make a decision. Should I go along with her words, agree to them, and potentially frighten her? Perhaps I should just pretend I had no idea of what she was talking about, making her angry and doubtful of herself? I had been making so many poor decisions lately, especially when it came to Sookie. That was something I could no longer allow to happen.

"Are you trying to change my story?" I asked her while I tried to buy myself more time to think of a plausible explanation. Still, I had never lied to her and that was one trend I was determined to make certain would continue when it came to talking to my wife, regardless of whatever form she may have been manifesting.

"Not changing," she said as she climbed up on the couch to sit beside me. She made sure she was comfortable by my side, even moving my arm a few times as if she was fluffing a pillow. She then continued to tell me, "I'm just telling it right."

"Oh, I see," I told her as I tickled her side a bit. "You think the way I was telling it was wrong."

"Not wrong," she said through little giggles while she wrestled my fingers away from her side. "You just made a few mistakes."

"Oh, really. A few, you say?" I asked her as she lay back down against my side. It did not escape me that she had not let go of my fingers and I found it something that was just fine with me.

"Yep," she said and I felt her nod against my side. I looked down at her and saw that she was looking right back up at me.

"Anywhere else I made a mistake?"

"Prince Eric was like you. He had to sleep during the day but he woked up when Princess Sookie needed him."

"He woke up because he loved Princess Sookie so much. He could feel how afraid she was and he wanted to make it all better."

She nodded in agreement before pulling me down to her level. She moved up to her knees and her mouth was by my ear. I thought she would whisper something to me, like a secret. Well, it may have been a whisper to her as it was; indeed, a bit more quiet than her normal volume, but it was definitely no whisper. "They have magic between them. It happened when Prince Eric saved Princess Sookie from a very bad man."

I had not included that part in my story. I pulled back, looking at her, and all I saw was a smile on her little face. I had no idea if she was remembering something due to the story or if perhaps the spell was starting to wear off. I had no idea what was happening. The only thing I was sure of was that I needed to tread carefully. I remembered what it was like when your memories returned and hit you all at once. It was something that was very unpleasant, and I was hoping that Sookie would be able to avoid that feeling.

"Because Prince Eric loved Princess Sookie," I told her, feeling quite odd in the way I was speaking of our lives. It was true; I loved her in that moment and the many that came before.

"And Princess Sookie saved Prince Eric because she loved him!" she told me excitedly.

"That could be," I told her not wanting to influence her in any way, not knowing how it might affect her. The truth was I couldn't be certain what Sookie felt at that time. No, that was not exactly the truth. With the third blood exchange, I could feel what she was thinking though, truthfully, it did take a few days for me to sort through all I was feeling within the bond. Therefore, I did know what Sookie was feeling. At that point, it was all conflict. I would not pretend it was anything more, not when I did not know how it would affect her regaining her mind and body once we figured out how to right whatever the hell happened to her.

"She must have loved him. She went back for him," She told me, her eyes suddenly too old for the little face that was currently staring into mine. I felt as if she was trying to tell me something in that moment, but I just could not see exactly what it was at the time.

I was not about to argue with that look.

"Where did you come up with these new additions to my story?" I asked her, curiosity finally getting the better of me. I did not know what she would tell me or if she would even be able to explain.

She thought about it for maybe two seconds before she shrugged and told me that she dreamt it. I knew there had to be more to it than that. The singing of songs, facts remembered now left out of a story I had told her, there was more going on here than simple, child-like dreams.

I just had no idea what else could have been happening.

I was so engrossed in our conversation that I had lost track of how close to sunrise it was until I felt the sun's pull. I had only minutes to get to the safety of my room and I had a young Sookie I had to make sure returned to her bed. I knew how long it could take to put Sookie back to bed and, unfortunately, I just did not have the time. I was not about to frighten her by succumbing to my day rest in the middle of putting her to bed!

I called out to Amelia. I knew Pam would hear me and there was no doubt in my mind that the two were together. Just as I thought, the two of them came into the living room soon after I had called for the witch. When I saw them, I got up off the couch and knelt down so that I was at Sookie's level. "Sookie, you have to go and get back into bed and I have to get some sleep too," I told her.

"Will you tell me another story first?" she asked as she tried to hold in a yawn.

I almost told her that I would, but felt that I had only minutes left before the sun would rise. After that, barring any unforeseen circumstances such as buildings blowing up, it would be mere seconds before my rest took me.

I shook my head and told her as gently as possible that I could not, but I was sure Amelia would tell her a story. "A fictional story," I added, hoping that Amelia would understand. As much I was hoping we could get Sookie back, having her memories return while she was still virtually a child was not something I thought would be beneficial. Amelia gave me a nod and I hoped that meant she understood.

Sookie, on the other hand, was having none of it.

"Noooo, Eric!" Sookie whined as she clung to my leg. "I don't want Amelia to put me to bed! I want you!"

"Sookie, I put you to bed earlier. Amelia will do it now. I will put you to bed tonight, I promise."

"Please, Eric!" she cried, her arms wrapping tightly around my leg. The only thing that kept my from sweeping her up in my arms and tucking her into her bed was feeling the sun's pull. I did not want to be overcome by it, thus falling to my rest while I was holding Sookie. I would have to tell her the truth, and that would only be more apparent after our conversation of this evening. However, I did not have to do it in such a way that would frighten her.

Although as her cries only grew louder as we detached her from my leg and Amelia took her away upstairs, I rethought my plans. Not so much as to risk submitting to the pull of the sun in front of her, but enough to make her cries hurt that much more. That was the thought that had me starting to walk away as soon as Sookie could no longer see me. It was true that I needed to get to the safety of my room before the sun went up, but that was not the thought that made me retreat.

No, I was trying and failing to run away from her cries. Long after my door slid shut, a door that was soundproof, I could still hear them repeating over and over in my head. The worst part was there was nothing that I could do to make anything better. I could be there for Sookie every night, so that was something that I could change, something I _would_ change. I only hoped that was enough because I could not be there once the sun had risen.

As much as I despised it at that moment, I planned to welcome the sun and the rest it would pull me into that morning. That would be my only reprieve and the only way for Sookie's cries to leave me was during my rest. I would have to deal with it tonight although I was not sure of her reaction, and though it would not allow me to be there for her during the day, I would tell Sookie as much of the truth as I could. I could not have her thinking that I was not choosing her company.

I was not alone in my bed but for a few seconds when my child entered silently and lay down beside me. She did nothing, but took me into her arms and offered herself as comfort. It was one that I clung to.

"I have never hated the sun," I told her. "Not once since I became a vampire have I ever actually hated the sun. I knew the hate would hold me back and I saw the creature that I could have become if I let it overpower me. I embraced the moon and the stars, but I have never once hated the sun." I paused before I finished by saying, "Until it kept me from her."

"You will be there for her, Eric. You will be there for her every single night. You have just been trying to ensure that you can be there, that she will be free to enjoy them with you. You will have your nights."

"If it is not enough?" I asked her.

She sighed, and that caused me to look at her. I could see the honesty in her face as she assured me it was. "Sookie made her choice," she told me. I opened my mouth to once more bring up the voicemail she left me, but Pam did not let me interrupt. "She knew what she was getting into in regard to the sun once she chose to be with not just one, but two vampires. That will not be what deters her."

We both were quiet after that, taking in the last few seconds before the sun rose. Pam's words were true, both her spoken and unspoken ones. It did not seem as if my inability to be there for Sookie would be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I just hoped that I could solve the problem that would.

I awoke the same way that I went to my rest. I was in my bed held in my child's arms. Pam would rise in a few minutes. She enjoyed her beauty sleep as she called it. I felt for the bond I had with Sookie, and I was honestly surprised with what I had found, especially after what happened this morning. Sookie was happy. This was the happiest I had felt her since…well, it was longer since she appeared to be a child. That was something I had difficulty admitting.

Pam rose and she gave me one last squeeze before she got out of bed and started her night. I waited another minute and thought over all that what I would be doing that night. I had a long list of things that I hoped to accomplish and I was not sure if it was possible to accomplish all of it. There was one thing I knew that I would be doing though, or not doing as the case may be. I was not going to give Victor or Felipe a second of my time that evening. They would not be seeing or hearing from the Sheriff of Area Five on this night.

I made my way up the stairs to my living room to see that Pam had gone directly to Amelia and the two were already wishing each other a good night. I expected to see that. Something I had not expected was my arms being filled with Sookie as soon as she saw me. She moved so quickly it was almost as if she had vampire speed! I did not expect it, but that did not mean I did not welcome it. I wrapped my own arms around her, and then pulled her up higher than her jump onto me had allowed.

"Good evening, Sookie," I told her as I breathed her in.

"Good evening, Eric," she repeated, her voice much more serious than usual, even when she was upset. It took me a second to realize that she was trying to mimic me. We both had a little laugh when she noticed that I realized what she was doing before I put her back on the floor. She did not let go of me that easily though.

"I don't like that when the sun comes up you have to go away," she told me with a sniffle. "Amelia explained it to me though. You have to, have to. It's like a rule."

I looked to the witch who just smiled back at me. If she was able to explain to Sookie that I really did not have a choice that morning in a way that she could understand, then I just might have to start to like the little witch.

"I do not like it either," I said to her, hugging her tightly to me before letting her go.

"Would you stay with me if the sun didn't make you go away?"

"If I had the choice, I would never leave you."

"Then we could have fun forever!" Sookie yelled, not understanding that was the one thing I wished for most. I would love to have fun forever with her. I just hoped that in my trying to ensure we could have the possibility of forever I had not lost her.

Throughout our conversation, I had been leading Sookie outside for a demonstration of what I was about to tell her next. "Do you know how you said that Prince Eric and Princess Sookie had magic between them?" I asked her and she nodded. "Well, there are people, beings, in this world who have their own magic, their own powers," I hesitated before I added, "Like you and your ability to hear the inside voices." I had almost used the term telepathy, but I was not certain whether she had had heard it yet.

She looked amazed, and then asked me, "Do you have powers?"

I nodded and explained some of the powers I had as a vampire. I left out flying, saving that as the last for the display. "Still, these powers come at a cost," I explained to her. "The sun hurts me and makes me go to sleep." I watched her face as I told her. It was scrunched up as she thought about my words, in a much less subtle way than what I was used to seeing.

"Do I have a cost for my magic?" she asked me. I had been dreading this question ever since I had decided to go this route to explain things. Her telepathy did come with a cost, it had cost her things throughout her childhood, and it cost her things as an adult, especially after vampires entered her life. I knew that and it was something that adult Sookie knew as well.

Still, how to explain these things to a child? I would not lie to her though, so I struggled with a way to put it into words that she could understand, but not send her running to those proverbial hills.

"You do," I began. "It is not the same as mine, but you do have a cost." Then I decided to leave it up to her. "What do others think of your magic?" I asked her.

"I'm not supposed to tell anybody," she told me quietly. "They won't like it. They won't understand."

"That must be hard," I told her, and she nodded her head in agreement. "Unfortunately, that would be the cost of your magic."

"Will I ever have friends?" she asked in a voice so weak that it made my chest hurt.

"Of course!" I answered. She had more friends than she realized. "Pam is your friend. Amelia is your friend."

"You're my friend!" she yelled excitedly. I simply nodded in return. What I felt for her was certainly more than friendship, well, when she was taller and older at least. However, I was not going to say anything that took that excited look off her face.

"See? You have many friends. You will have more friends than you know what to do with, Sookie. Friends who will love you," I paused before I bent down to her level. "Even though the cost may be high, the magic will be worth it," I told her before I took her into my arms and levitated a foot off the ground. She did not even realize I had as she felt me pick her up. I brought my lips to her ear and, in a real whisper, I told her to look down.

She did, and then she gasped and clung tighter to me. I stayed still in the air, not wanting to frighten her. It took her about a minute before her grasp on me relaxed. It was a good thing that I did not have to worry about circulation.

"We're flying!" she yelled and kicked her little legs. She looked back to me and said, "You! You're the one who could fly!"

I laughed at her excitement and asked, "Are you ready to go even higher?" She nodded, but her grip got tighter again. I took it slowly, but soon we were about twenty-five feet off the ground. Once she seemed steady in my arms, I asked, "Are you ready?" one last time. She seemed to know what I was asking her, and on her nod, I took off. Granted it was much slower than I usually flew, but I may have added few loops to make up for it.

Although Sookie's grip on my neck was tighter than ever, she laughed while we traveled through the clouds. She squealed as I created a loop in the sky. She giggled as we moved up and down throughout the stars. She yelled again as I fell to the ground, only to launch straight back up into the sky before we could hit it. All the time I took her around the skies, her eyes were on our travels, on the stars. My eyes were on her face, never once missing a reaction. I recorded them to my memory, my mission to make sure her face looked like that more often, both before we returned her to her natural age and after.

I had just lowered us to the ground when Pam came out holding my phone. "Not tonight, Pam," I told her thinking the caller was Madden or de Castro.

"You're going to want to take this," she told me, holding the phone out in front of her.

"I refuse to deal with them tonight, Pam," I told her.

"You want to take this phone call, Eric," she repeated. "It's Cataliades," she explained when she saw that I made no move to take the phone. I had to admit that I was eager to speak with the attorney and excited over what he might possibly have to report.

The only problem was that I also feared what the half-demon might say.

 **Well, we can hope Cataliades has something good to tell Eric. And Eric managed to keep his promise and took her flying. I do hope that you enjoyed.**

 **As always, much thanks to MsBuffy for her editing of this chapter.**


	11. Chapter 10

I may have been worried about what Cataliades might have to tell me, but there was no way I would miss his phone call. Any information, even if it was information that I did not want to hear, would be better than what I had.

Even with all Amelia had told me, I still had little to no information to go on. That was not something that I was used to, nor was it something I liked.

I was about to set Sookie down and simply go inside to take the phone call. In fact, I started to do just that, but those little hands around my neck would not let me go that easily. I remained crouched down where I had lowered myself to put her safely on the ground and could not able to rise unless I brought her back up with me.

"Do you have to go?" she asked with a little quiver in her voice. I hated to hear her voice like that, even worse was realizing that I did not have to hear her voice with that quiver to it for her to feel this way. Every time I had to cancel plans, there was a good chance that adult Sookie felt that same way. Part of me even knew that, especially given the voicemail she had left me. I had already made the decision to do whatever I could to make things right between us. That involved making sure she had understood the reasons for my having stayed away as well as making sure it did not continue in the future. I would always protect her; that was never a question. I would just do whatever I could to ensure that it was safe for me to see her; that it was safe for her to be with her husband.

I was even willing, perhaps even looking forward to detaching some heads from some shoulders to get there.

"I have to go inside and take this phone call, but I will not go anywhere tonight unless you are with me," I told her.

"No work?"

I shook my head. "No work," Moreover, anything less than another takeover, I meant it, although if we did have another takeover, I could not say with any certainty for which side I would be fighting.

"You'll stay and play with me all night?" she asked. She did not even try to mask the excitement in her voice. It was then that I realized that I wished for the chance to make adult Sookie that excited about something as well.

"After this phone call, I will be all yours," I told her before asking if she had eaten dinner yet. She nodded and told me that Amelia had fixed her chicken nuggets. I was not exactly sure which part of the chicken was the nugget, but Sookie seemed to think they were delicious. "Would you like Pam to get you a snack while I talk on the phone?"

I traded Pam a phone for a Sookie. My child had made the much better deal. "Thank you for returning my call," I said to Cataliades instead of a proper hello. I was both eager to hear what the demon had to say and to get back to Sookie.

"It sounded urgent," was his response.

"It is," I told him before I described to him what had happened, leaving out the most important detail of just to whom it had happened. I was not sure how closely connected the lawyer remained with the Fae, and I thought it best if Sookie's family was unaware, at least until I had more knowledge as to how the events had taken place. Niall would not do anything to purposely hurt Sookie, but that still left a significant amount of room where things could go wrong.

He listened and stayed silent throughout my entire explanation. In fact, the only reason I knew he was still on the line was due to his breathing. Only after I finished explaining the situation did he say anything. By the tone of his voice, I knew I was not going to like what came out of his mouth. "It was not a vampire who was cursed," he stated.

"I am attempting to determine what happened."

"You will have to be forthright if you wish to find that out," he told me. I stayed silent, trying to decide what I could share with him. "There would only be one other with whom you would be so concerned over."

I grit my teeth at his words though, unfortunately, they were not completely unexpected. "For whom are you currently working?" I asked him, needing to know. From working with him under Sophie-Anne, I knew he could be trusted. However, if he had been passed to de Castro or Madden in the takeover, there was a chance that was no longer the truth.

"Currently, only you," he said. It was the first bit of positive news in this entire debacle.

"Why did you say it could not be a vampire?" I asked curiously. I may have also been trying to delay the inevitable, allowing him to know his thoughts were correct.

He sighed, and then began to explain. "The magic that gives a vampire their second life essentially protects them from the more complicated curses that a demon might perform." I did not miss either time he had used the word 'curse'. The thought of someone, or something, having placed a curse upon Sookie made my blood boil.

"Just how would a human or a part-Fae fare against the magic of a demon?" I asked him, all but confirming his suspicions.

"Demon and Fae are actually quite similar creatures; their magic is virtually the same. To be able to block the magic would also mean they have to block what makes them who they are."

"So the two species would be able to place curses on each other?"

"Yes, no matter how much the blood or the magic was diluted," He paused before he asked, "How long has she been cursed?"

"A few days," I responded.

"Do you know where she was cursed?"

"I do not know for certain," I told him, and then I explained to him my suspicions. "Although I believe the curse occurred and took form at Merlotte's where she works. I found her in the woods not far from her house wearing her work shirt that was suddenly much too large for her."

He was quiet for a second, and while I might not have known why exactly, I knew that the information had told him something. I gave him a few more seconds of his quiet reflection before I asked, "What is it?"

"Merlotte's is quite public. Even on a slow night, she would not be the only one there. Knowing that, and if any others were affected, could help us learn which curse had been cast. What have you learned from the bar?"

Was that not the question? That had been the one place I had been physically avoiding ever since this happened for a variety of reasons. One was that between Sookie, Madden, and de Castro, I did not exactly have the time to go down to the bar and start poking around. Merlotte would have just loved that, which was another one of my reasons for not having gone there just yet. I knew I would and probably would have to even question the Shifter, but, for the time being, I had sent several of my vampires, both to the bar and to Bon Temps, to see if anything could be learned, to see if anyone else had been affected, or seemed to have knowledge of the curse.

They struck out on everything I had asked of them. I could not put it off any longer. That night Sookie would be given all of my attention, but tomorrow night I would be heading to Merlotte's to search out anything worth finding. I explained my plans to the demon and was surprised by his response that I should not go to the bar, not yet anyway.

"I will stop by before I come to you and see what I can find," he told me.

"Any reason in particular I should not go there just yet?" I asked him.

"Many," was his response. I waited for him to elaborate, but he did not. He simply said he would fill me in once he had learned more.

I was about to disagree with the lawyer in a very loud and, most likely, violent way when, out of the corner of my eye, something caught my attention. I turned toward the house and saw that Sookie was making funny faces at me through the window. Her fingers were pulling tight at the corners of her mouth. As soon as she saw me looking at her, she crossed her eyes and puffed out her cheeks before she dissolved into giggles at her own ridiculousness. I did not want her catching me losing my temper. I stuck my tongue out, and that made her dissolve into another fit of giggles. Pam was behind her with a smile of her own.

I put up one finger letting her know I would be another minute before I turned and said to Cataliades, "You are positive it would be best that I not go to Merlotte's on my own yet?"

"I am. Until I know more of what happened, it would be for the best."

"You will explain these reasons when you get here?"

"I would feel much better if we were to discuss those things in person and not over the phone." That was something that I not only understood, but something for which I could even commend the demon. If it was safer for Sookie, then it was to him I would be listening.

At least for the time being.

I thanked the lawyer after I asked him if he would be here tomorrow. His answer of, "If I am able," was not as reassuring as I would have preferred, however, I needed to remember that I was among many who suffered from the numerous and ridiculous effects brought on by the new regime. I needed to accept that even as much as it made me want to grind my phone into dust. Nevertheless, Cataliades' offer of assistance was all I had available at that time.

I walked into my kitchen after I hung up the phone. I may not have liked what Cataliades had said, but at least I had a starting point, well, perhaps a few points from where I could start. With any luck, once Cataliades arrived, he would have delivered far more to go on. I knew I would start my search at Merlotte's seeing as it was the last place Sookie seemed to recall being, and it was something that should have been done earlier. Sookie had left her post at the window and was back to eating at the table, though playing with her food was probably a more apt description.

"I saved you some carrots," Sookie told me when I joined her at the table.

"More like you avoided the carrots while you ate everything else," Pam said, and Sookie shot her a dirty look. Unfortunately, that look was one I had become accustomed to seeing on Sookie's face.

"I saved them for Eric," she said angrily stating saying every word. I fought hard to keep the smile off my face, and hoped I succeeded by the time she looked back to me. I did not get an angry face from her, so I took that to mean I succeeded. I was worried though that I would see that angry face after I told her that I could not eat the carrots she had saved for me, no matter her reasons behind it.

I looked to Pam who seemed to have grasped the conversation I was going to attempt to have with Sookie. Part of me was surprised when she showed no move to leave the kitchen, but I knew she wanted to see Sookie's response as much as me. It was something that I could not hide from her; I did not want to hide anything from her, even in this form.

"You know how we talked about the cost of magic?" I asked her, starting there. I received a nod in response to the question.

"Yes. The sun hurts you."

"That is correct. I also cannot eat food," I said to her.

"Not even ice cream?" she yelled, clearly appalled by this new bit of information.

"Not even ice cream."

She narrowed her eyes, and her nose scrunched up as if she was putting a great deal of thought into something. "So, even if I had made the pancakes and they didn't 'ploded, you wouldn't have been able to eat them?" I shook my head at her. "You don't eat anything?" she asked, which had been one of the questions I was dreading.

It was one that I was going to answer; I had no intentions of not answering, but it was also something I wanted to gain a little more information on in order gauge how to best approach it. The last thing I wanted was to go back to having Sookie hiding from me in bushes.

"When you heard Amelia's thoughts, what was she thinking?"

"I'm not supposed to tell," she said, looking down.

I placed my finger under her chin, and gently moved her face back up to where she was looking at me once more. "It is okay," I told her. "You should not hide your magic, Sookie. It is an important part of who you are. You never have to hide who you are with me. Never," I reiterated to her.

"Or me," my child added.

Sookie looked at us both very carefully, very appraisingly. That was an extremely important point in our conversation; her reaction would control the rest of the way the conversation would happen, or if it would continue to occur at all. I had not lied when I told Sookie I would be here the whole night with her and my want; my need to be honest with her was one of those reasons.

Sookie seemed to take my words to heart, "She actually thought my name a lot and an old lady with blond hair." If she thought she was old before she was cursed, I hated to think what she would believe regarding my age. "She thought about other things too," she said her voice returning to what she thought was a whisper. It still was not.

"What other things?" I asked. I had a feeling I knew what had gone through Amelia's head considering what had happened and why I called her here. She would have most likely thought about Supernatural creatures, and chances were that Sookie would have heard those thoughts before Amelia had been able to shield them though the shielding had not go over well either.

"Things Jason told me in scary stories. Things my Daddy told me weren't real," I stayed silent while Sookie moved closer and, in the whisper that was almost as loud as her usual voice, she added, "Monsters."

I thought that might be a word she associated with me after I explained the many things she might find concerning me. I had known it, but it still hurt to know that could be what she believed I was. I was aware that she was still thinking as a little girl at this point, and I even knew that adult Sookie, while I was at times not always her favorite creature, probably never thought of me in that way; or at least I hoped she had not. Somehow, that did not take the sting out of her use of the simple word. Judging from what I felt from Pam, her feelings were very similar to mine.

"Not all monsters are scary," I told her. "They just have some magic powers that people do not always understand." The words sounded reasonable enough in my head, yet I regretted them the instant they came out of my mouth. The question Sookie asked was why I did.

"I have magic. I hear the inside voices. Does that mean I'm a monster?" Sookie asked. She did not seem scared or worried about her question although I thought it might have been easier if she was. She believed herself to be a monster already and that was almost worse. No, it actually was worse.

"Does my magic make me a monster, Sookie?" I asked her.

"I don't think you're a monster," I only hoped she would continue with that particular thought process.

"I do not believe you are one either," I told her.

She started playing with the carrots on her plate again. I knew the question was coming once more. "What do you have to eat?"

I took a deep, unnecessary, breath, and then another. The conversation had gone well so far. This was when I could lose her. As much as I hated to admit it, I was also close to losing Sookie in her adult form. I did not want that nor did I want to lose her in this form. I hoped that both relationships could be saved; that was my ultimate goal.

I looked to Pam, and I imagined the desperation I saw on her face matched the one on mine. We had come this far though and it was not time to back down.

"I have to drink blood, Sookie," I told her as gently as I possibly could. Her eyes filled with understanding, and suddenly it felt as if I was the one who could read minds when I saw the word on her face, in those eyes, before she said it.

"Vampire. Like a vampire."

I did not know if it was a memory she had somehow pulled from her adult life. I did not know if it was something she knew from Jason's scary stories. I did not think it mattered how she knew, only that she knew.

Most importantly, did it now put me in the monster category?

I nodded, and then the room was filled with silence. Pam and I could do silence like professionals, and as it turned out, so could Sookie. The only sounds were the humming of the lights, her heartbeat, and her breathing.

At least they were the only sounds until she asked another question.

"Do you want to drink my blood?" she asked. Her voice was stronger than I thought it might be at this question, but upon thinking on it, I was not really that surprised. Sookie was brave; she would not hesitate to dive into dangerous situations when she felt it was necessary. That was a character trait that she most likely always had. It was not her fault that she had been introduced to such a dangerous world.

The question was also two-fold. With adult Sookie, I would not hesitate to take her blood if she offered it as long as it was not hazardous to her health. However, the answer to her question as she currently was, absolutely not. "No," I told her.

"Does Pam?" she asked, obviously not wanting my child to hear the question. Her intuition was astounding in that she realized not only was I a vampire, but Pam was one too.

I shook my head while Pam took that as her cue to step toward us. She knelt down so she was level with Sookie and told her, "I don't. You don't have to be frightened of me, of us," my child told her. "That's the last thing we want."

"You don't scare me," she told me. "Well, 'cept for in the woods. That was scary. You've been a good boy ever since." That may have been the only time in my existence that I would be called a good boy, but I would take it.

"You even made my boo-boo disappear with your magic!" Sookie said excitedly. "You wouldn't have done that if you wanted to hurt me." She took in the look on my face and asked, "Why do you look so scared?"

"I thought you would not want to be my friend anymore," I told her honestly.

"Do you not want to be friend because I hear inside voices?" I shook my head no.

"There are good people and bad people, Eric," she told me, sounding much older than the figure in front of me appeared. "I think you're one of the good people."

That was the second time in our conversation that Sookie referred to me as 'good.' She seemed to see something in me, something that I could not even see in myself half the time. I vowed to do whatever I could to prove her right, no matter in what form or age she appeared to me.

Still, I had one more question to ask, one more thing of which I needed to be absolutely certain.

"Will you still stay with us, Sookie?" I asked. The conversation appeared to go well, but I still worried about her answer. I did not know what I would do if she said no. Well, I would know what to do for her safety, but for everything else, I did not know what I would do if she told me no.

 **Hello dear readers. I do hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Two very important conversations happened and Eric is looking for a little reassurance here after one of them. Many thanks to MsBuffy for her editing and her little additions!**

 **Other positive note - I was able to get the next 5 uploaded here so as long as I don't have trouble posting, I should be able to have regular updates here for awhile at least. I thank everyone reading here for their patience as my computer and FF seem to not be getting along too often.**


	12. Chapter 11

It could not have been a second before a smile erupted on Sookie's face, but for some reason it felt as if I lived my entire thousand years over again in that one, short moment. "Someone's being a very silly vampire tonight," she told me while she shook her finger my way.

That was the second time Sookie had described me in such a term that I could not ever remember having been called before. I do not recall ever being told I was silly; I have been called many things, but that was certainly not one of them. Nor did I recall the last time someone had shaken his or her finger in my face as had the little person at whom I was staring. If it had been anyone else, he or she would no longer be attached to his or her finger.

The ease at which she said it relaxed me a bit though. I knew Sookie seemed all right with our conversation. I wondered if that was just Sookie or because somewhere deep within her she knew all of this already. I was relaxed with how calmly she had taken everything, but I still needed her to say the words. I still needed to hear her say it.

Sookie's eyes suddenly looked much older than she appeared. I was abruptly staring into much more familiar eyes. "You don't scare me, Eric," she told me as she placed her hands on my cheeks. "You fixed my boo-boo and made me a clean fishy and took me flying. You won't hurt me. I'll stay here with you if you still want me to." Even though her words did not show confidence, her tone and expression showed what the words lacked. She did not question the fact that I wanted her to stay with me, not really. It was as though she knew and understood that her being with me, that her living with me, no matter where we were, was something that I wanted desperately.

I had nothing against Sookie's current form, but it was something I wanted adult Sookie to crave as much as I did. I was starting to realize that one of the biggest problems was I might not have let her know it was what I desperately wanted. I was not going to make that mistake now, and it was something I would rectify as soon as I had the opportunity.

I only hoped the opportunity would come soon.

"I want nothing more than for you to stay here with me," I told her.

She crinkled her nose at me and asked, "Was that a yes? Nothing is usually a no, but it didn't sound like a no."

I barely managed to hold in my laughter over her confusion at my words. Pam's face finally relaxed too. She had been almost as nervous as I had throughout this entire conversation, and I knew the prospect of being turned away from teacup Sookie was something that weighed heavily upon her.

"That was a yes," I told her. "That was a very big, gigantic, yes."

"Yay!" Sookie said, and suddenly launched herself at me from the chair. With my vampire speed I had no problem catching her, but I was lucky that my heart no longer beat. If it did, I might have had a heart attack as I imagined her falling to the floor or hitting her head on the chair. I caught her and clutched her to my chest as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "More slumber party!" she yelled, right in my ear!

Ouch.

She picked up her head off my shoulder, and I could feel the excitement creep out of her body and I looked down at her, confused as to what had happened. It was not me that she was currently looking at; it was my child who was still leaning up against the cabinet. "Pammy, come and give us a hug," Sookie said, and I felt one of her arms leave my neck while she held it out for Pam.

I was surprised when my child did not correct Sookie for having called her by a name she vehemently disliked. Pam was in no way shape or form a 'Pammy,' yet, when Sookie invited Pam into our hug that did not matter. All that it told me was that Sookie wanted her friend. Pam did not let her down and I soon had two blond females wrapped in my arms.

"I have one more question," Sookie told us when she started to pull away from the hug.

"Now what would that be?"

"Can we go flying again?"

I did not take her flying again, at least not at that very second. I did make her wait a few minutes. Well, she had to eat two carrots, and then wait a few minutes. I did not know how her stomach would take it. It was not easy staying strong as she looked up at me with those pleading eyes. I knew it was important not to give children what they want when they wanted; they needed to learn control.

I just hoped that in the four minutes and twenty seven seconds I made her wait that Sookie learned some semblance of whatever control making her wait was supposed to have taught her.

After flying, it was coloring time. I had been able to pick up some materials from the store for Sookie to use for coloring. I stayed away from the markers labeled permanent for many reasons. One was that I did not need multi-colored walls and floors. I also did not need a multi-colored Sookie. She usually had decent motor skills, for a human at least, but I had heard that children did not hold the coordination of adults. That left Pam, Sookie, and I coloring with crayons. With Amelia out with Tray, I was happy for the time that it was just the three of us.

"Can I see Jason?" she asked suddenly as she lifted her head from coloring her little green and brown blob. I thought she was coloring a tree, but I could not be sure yet. I had been waiting for this question and others similar to it. I was concerned she would include her parents in the question as well. We seemed to have covered the topic of Gran over milk, but not her parents, not in any definite way at least.

Again I was left wondering just how much she remembered. Did she not ask for her parents because she already knew the answer? Had she not asked simply out of pure luck? Was it only just her brother she wanted to see? I was getting more and more questions each night and the answers seemed to be getting further and further away. I hoped that Cataliades would arrive soon and that he might have some of the answers that I desperately needed.

Like how to answer Sookie's question.

I did not want to keep her from Jason, but I did not know how she would react to the fact that he was a grown man and she currently was not an adult, not in body at any rate. She had been handling everything with more than ease, but anything had the potential to become the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

Moreover I could not take any more crying. I hated seeing her cry. I hated witnessing the physical proof of her distress.

I looked to Pam who shrugged, and then brought my attention back to Sookie. We both knew that Sookie meeting Jason was not something we could be delay forever. Neither of us wanted it said, but the reality was that Sookie could spend years like this, with the hope of aging naturally if it was to be so. There was no chance that I could not keep them apart for that long. It would do neither of them any good.

"You would like to see your brother?" I asked in return, attempting to give myself even more time than I had already.

"That's what I said," she responded, and then returned to her coloring. Apparently she still thought I was a very silly vampire while as she muttered the words under her breath. "He must be lonely," she said, using her normal volume. She obviously cared more for younger Jason than the adult version.

"I will see what I can do," I told her, and I would. I would try to figure out a way to get the two siblings together without either of them reacting badly what they would see. I knew that I had been lucky so far; no one from Sookie's life had come looking for her, well, not loudly enough yet to have caused notice.

"Can you do it soon?" she asked. "Jason's annoying and stinky, but I miss him."

I watched Pam struggling not to laugh at Sookie's words. Though they had humor to them, I could actually see the Sookie that I was more accustomed to dealing with as she spoke of her brother in the same manner. It seemed to summarize their relationship perfectly. You did not speak that way unless you loved someone.

"Sookie," I called, which caused her to once again look up from her drawing. "I will arrange for you to see your brother as quickly as I can."

"Good, because I am drawing this picture for him!" she said as she switched to a black crayon, and then started to draw a black blob that was in the approximate shape of an animal. I could not identify what animal she was attempting to draw, but it had five legs or four and a tail. I was just going to assume that the fifth leg was actually a tail.

Pam looked over Sookie's shoulder at her drawing and asked, "What is that?"

It was a legitimate question, but judging by the look that appeared on Sookie's face, it was not the way to ask what she was drawing. Before Sookie could tell Pam just what she thought of her question I said, "It is a great picture. Could you tell me about it?"

Sookie looked back and forth between Pam and me, and I saw in her eyes that she was determining whom she wanted to answer. Once the smile appeared on her face, I knew she had decided on me. "It's the woods behind my Gran's house," she started to explain. I was right about the trees. There were many little green and brown blobs. The blue was a lake that was somewhere in the woods. I thought it was closer to her parent's house than her grandmother's though. It was when she pointed to the black creature she had drawn that I felt as if my blood stopped running.

"This is a panther. He's a friendly one though. He won't bite, or scratch, or try to eat me." Pam and I risked careful glances at each other so we would not bring Sookie's attention to us. I did not know much about children, but I did not think a panther would be high on the list of animals they might know, not at the age that Sookie appeared to be. A lion or tiger, yes, but it did not seem as though a panther would be recognized.

Maybe she had seen panthers out in the woods before, especially with the population in the area. Maybe she had animal books and knew all sorts of animals. Or maybe, just maybe, she remembered Hot Shot. We were talking about Jason. She even said it was a picture for him. Perhaps somewhere in the recesses of her mind she remembered that her brother now had a panther form during full moons?

I hoped Cataliades had some answers about this situation and some ideas on how to revert her to adult Sookie.

When Sookie could not go fifteen seconds without yawning I told her it was time for bed. I did not get any arguments, but I had also learned that meant nothing until she was asleep.

Hell, even that meant nothing.

"Will you tell me another story?" she asked when she took my head and I led her to her bedroom.

"Absolutely."

"Can Pam come too? She might have some fun stories."

"You bet I do," Pam told her, getting up from where she had been sitting. "I can tell you many funny stories of Prince Eric before he came to America."

"Did he get into trouble?" she asked as she pushed through the door to her room. She held up her arms, which I had learned meant that she wanted help taking off her shirt. There were times when she wanted her independence and times where she wanted to be looked after.

It made me wonder if I had missed certain cues from Sookie in our lives. Little Sookie might be a little less subtle in her demands, but something told me her wants were not all that different.

"Would I cause trouble?" I asked before Pam had a chance to answer. I took off her shirt and slipped another one of mine on her. I would not be able to put off buying her more clothes much longer. Between my shirts and the things Amelia brought with her, we would not get much further.

I got a little giggle in response and Pam said, "You really don't want me to answer that."

When Sookie was dressed, had brushed her teeth, sent Pam down to get a drink of water, and had used the bathroom, she was finally tucked into bed. Pam was in charge of the story that night. She kept it relatively clean and did not completely embarrass me, but Sookie learned the story about how Prince Eric saved Lady Pam from an overzealous farm owner. Pam had been snacking off the farmhands though she left out that part. Thankfully, she also left out what happened with the cows when I came to her aid.

We left a lightly-snoring Sookie and were back in the living room when my phone rang. I saw it was Victor. Again. It was only the second time that he called me tonight though; that was better than usual. When he did not leave a message and immediately called back, I knew I was pushing my luck by ignoring him any longer.

Tonight, I was willing to push my luck. Even with Sookie asleep, I was not going anywhere, not tonight. I had made a promise and it was one I intended on keeping. Sookie had already shown me that just because she was asleep in bed that certainly did not mean she would remain sleeping in bed. I did not want to be gone if she awakened again.

"I'll go," Pam said while she took the phone out of my hand. I was about to argue with her. I knew that she had to deal with Victor as my second and as my child, but that did not mean that I wanted her to volunteer. She did not let me get a word in though prior to saying, "What do you want me to tell him?" Both her tone and facial expression left me no room for argument. I could have commanded her to stay, but doing so would have only made the situation worse, both with Victor and between my child and me.

"You will not be alone with him," I told her before answering her question. That was something that I would not allow, ever. I would have a couple more assurances in place that Pam probably would not like when she arrived at Fangtasia, but I refused to endanger my child.

Not any more than the current situation already had.

She rolled her eyes at me, but I knew I would not have to give her a command for that. She may not have liked it, but she did not want to be close to Victor no matter what.

She repeated her question. "Tell him that in order to serve both him and our King effectively, I need to make certain my own Area is running smoothly. Some things simply cannot be run efficiently from the club."

"So, when that doesn't work?" My child had been paying close attention and that made me most proud. She knew that Victor would not be mollified by that explanation; hell, he would not be mollified by any explanation.

"Let him know that when I made sure all was right in the Area that I saw my wife," I hated bringing Sookie into this and saw that Pam did too by the narrowing of her eyes. I explained that he would believe I was handling an _issue_ with her. As much as I hated it there might be one positive in this, if Victor assumed things were bad between Sookie and me, he might not feel the need to interfere as much, let us run our own course and all of that.

That was what I hoped at least. Something would have to work at some point, right?

Pam was about to walk out the door. I was proud that she wanted to do this, that she was able to do this. That did not mean that I actually wanted her to do it. Still, I was learning from the little creature that I hoped was still sleeping upstairs in her bed.

I caught her arm and pulled her into a hug. It was one that we both needed while she clung to me as well. With the Fae War, the takeover, and now Sookie, our lives had been upended so much in the last few months. We had been each other's constant for so long and that would never change, but this was something we needed. We needed it in that moment, for the moments that came before it, and for the moments that would follow.

I kissed her forehead as we pulled out of the hug. "You taught me well, Eric."

"Almost everything I know," There were just some lessons that I did not want her to learn. I hoped she would not learn them tonight.

"This is why vampires make children."

"It is not why I made you."

"I know," she said with a smirk she may have learned over our centuries together on her face. "I gave you many added bonuses."

"That you did," I told her, yet my voice did not hold the playfulness hers had held.

"I will be fine, Eric."

"I know."

"I'll call you when I am leaving," she said and gave me one last look before she went out the door.

I knew that she would call me when she left. There would also be at least two others who called me when she left to report what had happened while she was there. She may not like my concern, but I knew she would appreciate it if she ever found out and ever admitted it to herself.

When the door closed behind her, I was left alone with my thoughts. Sookie did not awaken before I needed to go to my rest and though I knew that was a good thing, she needed the rest and it showed she was comfortable, I would be lying if I said I did not miss it, miss her.

I had postponed going to my rest without Amelia there, but I could not put it off much longer. The reports I received on what occurred at Fangtasia were not astounding. It actually sounded as if Victor had behaved, at least more than he did with me. I would have to wait and discuss with Pam what the conversation regarded, but by all accounts it was good.

Better than what I usually received.

The door opened and Amelia walked through it. Pam left the club too late to return here and would be staying in her own home tonight. Amelia probably would have joined her if she did not have to take care of Sookie. She had cut it a little close time wise and though I did not say anything, the look on my face must have. "I set an alarm," she said. "I would never not return to be here with her."

I just nodded and continued to make my way downstairs. I hoped tomorrow night would bring more answers.

 **Hello dear readers. I do hope you enjoyed the interactions in this chapter. Eric is learning quite a bit through them. As always, thanks to MsBuffy for her editing and for working with me on this chapter.**


	13. Chapter 12

I woke from my day rest dreading the night. I would have to go to Fangtasia tonight. I would have to deal with Victor Madden. What really bothered me about both of those things was that I had to leave Sookie. It was the latter of the two that disturbed me more than I had ever imagined.

Determined to spend as much of my time with her as possible, I took a very quick shower and quickly made my way upstairs. Sookie was waiting for me there at the top of the stairs. Her arms flung around my legs as she said, "Amelia said you would be up soon! The day was too long today!"

"You've only been up for two hours," Amelia said with a little laugh.

"I missed you in those two hours," Sookie told me while she gripped my legs tighter. If I had not been a vampire, she might have made me tumble backward down them. I took her up into my arms and she put her head on my shoulder while she wrapped her hands around my neck.

"I missed you too," I told her. "For many more than two hours."

"I drawed you a picture!" she told me excitedly. I started a little collection of pictures that she had drawn for me. They were something I planned to keep for a very long time.

"Really? Let me see it," I told her while I lowered her to the floor. She took off running leaving me to follow her while Amelia returned to the kitchen to finish making Sookie's dinner.

When I got to the living room where Sookie did her artwork, she had already collected the paper and was in the process of trying to shove it in my face. She almost succeeded, which was quite impressive with her smaller than usual stature.

"Look! Look!" she said as I took the paper from her hands and sat on the couch. She bounced on the seat next to me and again told me to look at the picture.

"I love it!" I told her while I looked it over. She had drawn a picture of us flying in the sky complete with stars and fangs. Granted, she had drawn my fangs longer than my face, but I appreciated her including them. I cherished her drawing the picture meant specially for me.

"Thank you, Sookie," I said.

"You are very welcome, Eric," she answered me just as Amelia called to tell her that her dinner was ready. She hopped off the couch, pulled me up with her, and led me into the kitchen. I was suddenly worried that it would be harder to leave her tonight than I originally believed.

We went into the kitchen and I sat her down on a chair after she washed her hands. "Sookie, I have to go to work tonight," I informed her.

Her face fell and she asked, "Do you have to leave now?"

"Very soon," I answered her. "I wish I could stay here with you."

"But you have to work. Just like Daddy had to work."

"Unfortunately, I do." She nodded, turned away, and asked Amelia what was for dinner. She was having chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and corn. No carrots in sight!

"Okay," she said in a tone much less enthusiastic than it was just minutes ago.

I turned her back toward me and this time, it was me who initiated the hug. "I hope you have a fun night, Sookie. Pam will be coming by later to play with you."

That brightened up her face a little, but not as much as I would have wished. I pressed a kiss to her forehead and told her I would check on her when I came in, and then I turned and left.

I made it to the front lawn and was just about to take off when I heard the front door open. I turned to see Sookie standing in the doorway. Amelia had her hand on Sookie's shoulder and she shrugged though I was unsure what provoked the gesture. I was just getting ready to ask what was wrong, but it was Sookie's voice that rang out through the night when she called, "Eric?"

I took one step toward the door and Sookie as I answered, "Yes, Sookie?"

I had almost forgotten about Victor and Felipe. I was ready to throw away any plans of going to Fangtasia that night. My entire reason was due to the little child who called out, "One last hug?" in a voice that sounded close to breaking.

I moved toward her before she finished saying the words. As soon as she saw me move toward her, she took off running toward me. I knelt down and for a moment, it appeared as if Sookie was the one who could fly as she landed in my arms. I pulled her up with me while I stood to my full height.

"I wanted one more hug," Sookie said into my neck, her voice not yet back to its full strength.

"I am so glad you did because I think I needed a million last hugs," I told her as I held her more tightly.

"So don't go," Sookie said, and I felt the start of her tears against my face.

The only thing, the absolute only thing that kept me firm in my plan to go to Fangtasia, was the safety of the person who had just asked me not to leave. Would protecting her be worth it if I had to break her heart to do so? I had to keep telling myself that if it kept her alive it was certainly worth it. If she was alive, then I would still have a chance to help her pick up the pieces.

I knelt back down crouching on the ground and put her on my knee. "There would be nothing more than I could want than to stay home with you, tonight and every night for the future."

"And we could color, and play games, and have a dance party!" she said excitedly.

She had me until she said dance party… I cannot imagine participating in a dance party. Then again, I had no idea who I was trying to kid, of course she had me with dance party too! This little being on my knee had me in so many ways, I was not certain she even understood that, in this form or her adult form.

"Yes, we could have great fun. You see, my…" I hesitated while I tried to think of a word she might comprehend as well as one that would not have me speaking words that little Sookie should not hear. "Bosses," I said, having finally decided it was a safe word. "My bosses have been keeping me very busy these days."

"They don't want us to have any fun." If only she knew the truth of that statement! Though I was sure there were more diabolical plans afoot, I also knew that keeping me miserable seemed to be high on the priority list.

"No, they do not," I told her. I intended to stop there, but then thought to explain further. I decided to be as appropriately honest as I could with the little person still perched on my knee. "They can be very dangerous if they do not get what they want. It is important that I make them happy, that I play their games. If I do that, I can make sure that soon, very, very soon, my nights will belong to you."

She crinkled her nose and the look in her eyes was thoughtful, as if she was trying to think through something. I wondered if my words had triggered another memory for her. I still had no idea how that worked or if it would continue to occur. I did not know what I wanted to happen. I know I wanted Sookie back as an adult with all of her memories intact. What I was uncertain on the subject of was child Sookie having adult Sookie's memories. Little Sookie was taking everything in great strides, but all that Sookie had gone through was overwhelming enough for an adult, let alone a child.

I remembered holding Sookie while she processed all that had happened during her kidnapping. I remembered holding her and giving her any amount comfort I could. I remembered being so proud of every little step she took, whether it was simply getting out of bed those first days home or the first time she recalled something without having a flashback. I would do it again in a beat of her heart if she needed me, my only wish was that it did not occur during this incarnation of her childhood self to whom I might need to be offering such comfort.

"You have to listen to them," Sookie stated more than asked, which brought me out of my thoughts. "Your bosses, you have to," she reiterated, making it seem as if it was a very important rule. I suppose it was in most circumstances. In my vampire situation, it was not the most important rule.

"Yes, I do not want to, but I have to. I have to so I will be able to make sure that we are safe and be sure we have many nights to have fun in the future."

"Lots of fun?"

"The most fun you will ever have," I told her running my thumb across her cheek. "I will do everything I can to make sure that we can have lots of fun every night. That is all I want."

She looked at me and for a moment, her eyes were once again a great deal older in the face staring back into mine. She blinked, and then I was once more looking into the eyes of a child. "Okay," she told me before squeezing her arms around my neck one last time. She kissed my cheek before she skipped back to Amelia. She turned back toward me again after she reached the door and said, "Bye, Eric," and then waved. I waved back.

As I turned from the wave and started off into the sky, I was hit with sudden clarity. Out of the blue, I realized I was a fucking idiot! That little conversation was one I should have had with Sookie weeks ago! Months ago! That should have been the talk we had prior to me leaving her after that damn attack. It should have been something we discussed, a plan we could have worked out between us that might have both kept us safe and allowed us to see each other. We could have found an accord, a place where we were of the same mind. Instead I had left her for another time, keeping my distance, always so worried about her safety. In doing what I thought was right, I had pushed her away.

I could only hope I had not pushed her so far away that I would not be able to reach her to pull her back.

I walked into Fangtasia. My only saving grace was that Madden had yet to appear. I knew he would and I could not count out Felipe. Last I had heard he was back in Nevada, but the two of them seemed to enjoy taking me by surprise. I would not count out a visit from either. As a matter of fact, I expected a visit from Madden, specifically because I had escaped him last night. I would not be so fortunate for a second night.

My work for the Area had accumulated over the last few nights. Pam and I had been doing our best to keep up with it; we had no need to give Madden any more ammunition as it were. However, I still had to up the tithe I collected from the vampires in Area 5 in order to meet the increase of our contribution to Felipe from the state. It was something I was unhappy with and the vampires in my Area were making it known they were less than thrilled over it as well. It had only cost me two vampires thus far, everyone else trusted me to do all I could regarding it. Still, I knew more would leave and I would lose support, something I could ill afford at present.

I knew immediately when Victor Madden stepped into the hallway and started to walk into my office. He had a very specific gait seemingly to appear as if he was limping, but he was not. The instant I heard it, my Madden-free night ended.

Victor stormed into my office without as much as a tap to my door, baring his utter lack of respect for me. The fact that I remained seated once he appeared rather than stand reflected my utter lack of respect for him, thus we were off to a fabulous start for the evening.

"How are things with your wife?" he asked with a smirk on his face while he seated himself in the chair opposite my own.

"I have to believe the concerns of my Area and our King's states were of greater significance than those of my wife."

"You wife will be listening to almost every human in our King's states in the very near future. With that in mind, I should be very concerned with the wellbeing of your wife. And your marriage," he added as though it was an afterthought, but I recognized it for the clear threat it was.

"My wife is fine," I told him, and hoped that the sooner I acknowledged his inane questions the sooner we could change the subject. I did not lie to him; Sookie was fine when I left her and judging from the bond, she was still fine with Amelia.

Victor nodded at my words, but stayed quiet. I was not going to add any more to my explanation and when I saw that he had no immediate plans to elaborate, I returned to my paperwork, virtually ignoring him. I had more important things to do than to play bullshit with Madden.

Unfortunately, if that was the game he chose to play at any point that night, I would be forced to play along, but at that moment, I took solace in my boring, tedious paperwork.

It was only after I began going over the accountant's bank reports for Fangtasia that Madden unfortunately opened his mouth again. "Will you be able to make your contribution for this month?"

"I have never missed one," I answered while I confirmed it with Fangtasia's profits for the quarter that I would be able to reimburse some of my vampires' tithes.

"That did not answer my question," Victor replied, his tone causing me to look up from my paperwork.

"It should," I told him. "I have never missed a payment, and I have no plans on doing so presently and disappointing the new regime," I continued. That part was not a lie; I just did not want to give either Victor or Felipe a legitimate reason to pursue me. They were doing quite fine without one. To my sheer disdain, once Victor started talking, he did not stop. I answered question after question about finances, my finances, the finances of my businesses, the finances of the Area, and the average finances of the vampires living in the Area. Naturally, the information I gave him was rather meaningless. I did not blatantly lie, but I most certainly did not tell the complete truth. To do so would have been a badly mistaken act.

I did my best to avoid those.

After the finance conversation, Madden insisted on going out into the club area and observe, well, the club. I would have thought any of his previous visits when he saw the club in action might have been enough, but evidently not for Victor. He had to be _thorough_.

Me? I wanted to break one of my own chairs and shove a piece of wood into his unbeating heart. In fact, it was something that I wanted so badly, I had visions of doing just that as we walked to the bar area. By the time Victor informed me that per his count 'our' patrons were waiting thirteen seconds too long for a drink, my visions of what I wanted to do to Victor had only become more gruesome. He might have lost a few appendages before I shoved the broken piece of chair into his chest.

"You would not be trying to sneak Ms. Stackhouse out of Felipe's territories, would you?" Victor asked. If that was their fear, then they were worrying over nothing. Sookie would not be going anywhere unless I was going with her!

"No," I responded simply and sincerely.

"I would think your wife would frequent your business, especially if it was where you spent the majority of your time of late."

"I have been here because my duties as Sherriff required it," I told him.

"Yet your wife has not been."

"Where my wife happens to be is no concern of yours."

"It is if it affects her ability to use her talent for the Kingdom."

"Would there happen to be any truth to your inclination?"

"Where has she been, Eric? She has not made an appearance here, I have not seen her, and her scent is fading. You are no longer angry about having to send her messages that you have not been able to see her."

"Again, the presence of my wife and the status of our relationship remains no concern of yours. I have been maintaining my responsibilities. I have not been made aware of any specific plans for the use of Sookie's abilities," I told him. I left out the fact that even with specific plans she would not be doing anything they requested.

He might have left it there. He could have been satisfied enough at that moment to let it go for the rest of the night. I had no doubt he would raise the topic again tomorrow or that he might even perhaps make up a task he would require her to do, and I might have been able to get through the rest of the night not having to discuss Sookie.

However, right at that same time, someone pushed through the line entering the club. The anger poured off of him and filled the room. Even the humans realized something was off and stopped whatever they were doing. They turned to face the cause of that anger as he stormed directly over to me. Once he stood before me he took a swing, one that I was able to block. Still, it did not dissuade him from trying again with his other fist. That one connected lightly with my chin before I could move out of his reach. I pushed him backward and he glared at me.

Merlotte was furious and I had a very good idea as to why. It also became quite clear that my night had just become more than a great deal complicated.

"Where's Sookie?" he demanded, yelling at me. "What have you done with her?"

I looked from Merlotte to Victor. The vampire suddenly looked quite pleased. I knew that did not bode well for me or for Sookie.

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. We will see just what added complications Sam brings to the table in the next chapter. Much thanks to MsBuffy for working on this one with me!**


	14. Chapter 13

I attempted to make Merlotte shut his filthy shifter mouth. I tried to convey the knowledge that the other vampire who stood there with us was a dangerous one, especially with what the shifter had insinuated. Not only could he not grasp any meaning, understand subtlety, or he was just too far-gone in his rage to actually comprehend anything. "She hasn't been at work in days!" He continued. "Jason said she hasn't been home. _What have you done with her?_ "

"Was Jason using the fact that his unwashed clothing sits undone in her laundry room as confirmation that she has not been home?"

Some of his anger deflated with that question. Some, not all, so it was still vitally urgent for me to remove him from Victor's presence, the sooner, the better for the both of us. I had no idea of what else would come out of Merlotte's mouth or just how Victor might interpret it, and then try to use it against me in any way he could. I grabbed Merlotte's arm and would not release it when he attempted to pull free. "I have nothing to explain pertaining to my wife or her location," I hissed at him. "Let us discuss just how little information I owe you concerning my wife, privately, in my office!"

I began forcing him toward my office and he must have had what Pam calls a 'light bulb moment' or realized something was amiss because he gave no struggle, nor did he say another word. He was about two regrettable minutes too late for that.

I turned back around when I heard the third set of footsteps. "The shifter and I will be having a private discussion…alone," I said to Madden. He looked much too eager to join in our conversation. "His interest in my wife is personal and does not affect Area or state business."

"It most certainly would if this was a demonstration of how you ran things in your Area." I felt Merlotte's pulse increase under my hand.

"He is a shifter, out of my domain and rule."

"If you have not yet managed to earn his respect, or at least enough that would have kept him from behaving as he has then I believe that could be Area or state business. The different groups may not always get along, but the fact that he felt it was more than acceptable to come to your place of business in a tirade, demanding answers about your wife? I believe that shows an evident weakness in your rule."

It was right there on his face. He had known earlier in the conversation that something was going on, but with Victor's statement Sam now knew he had walked in on a very tumultuous situation and that like Sookie's pancakes, he had made it 'plode. Contrary to what his behavior in the last few minutes indicated, Sam was not a stupid man. He would be on his best, or at least better, behavior if for no other reason than it was in Sookie's best interests.

That and, if he made the current mess a bigger one, I would kill him.

"Believe me, I will 'manage' the shifter," I told Victor and fortunately, said Shifter remained silent at my proclamation.

"I will ensure that you do," Victor said, and I knew he had no intention of allowing me to speak a word to Merlotte devoid of his presence. Unfortunately, there was no intention of any conversation between Merlotte and me together with Victor. We had reached a stalemate of sorts, one I was determined to win.

"You cannot have it both ways," I told him, prepared to use his own words against him. "You cannot wrongly accuse me of being so lax that I would allow any such kind of insolence, yet not permit me to discipline alone. It would undermine my authority." That did not seem as if it would be good enough for Victor and honestly, I would not expect it to; however, when I pointed out that it would eventually undermine the state's authority as a whole, he could not fight against that though he clearly wanted to.

Once again I started to pull the shifter toward the hallway that led to my office, and finally using his intelligence, Sam came quietly and gave no resistance. I made it to my office door without having heard a third set of footsteps following and considered that a small victory! I did not believe Sam agreed.

"What's going on?" he demanded when I flung him to the couch. I ran a hand through my hair and turned my back to him. Whatever had happened to Sookie most likely had happened at _his_ bar. He might have some answers for me. I was worried that in order to get those answers he might have, I would probably have to give him the few that I had.

"Sookie is fine," I told him, starting first with that. I knew we would accomplish nothing if he did not hear those words. "She has been staying with me."

"It's not like her not to call into work."

"I apologize for that oversight."

"It's not your oversight. Sookie would call into work _if she could_."

He had me there. Unless something was preventing her from doing so, she would not miss work without calling. Something had prevented her from that, but it was likely none of the scenarios that were running through Merlotte's head. I doubted that he would really believe she was cursed and reverted back to her childhood nature and stature.

That would not be the first logical leap for most.

"What do you remember about the last time Sookie was at work?" I asked him while I tried to avoid telling him anything. He was not stupid, and he would never do anything to intentionally hurt Sookie, but with his anger he could do so much to inadvertently hurt her. I needed to ensure that never happened.

His eyes widened, and he rose from the couch about to start another tirade. I do not know if it was my hand that I had put up in case he tried to charge me again. I do not know if the look on my face matched the feeling I had in my head and that stopped him. I do know that I very much appreciated that he stopped and sat back down on the couch.

I took a seat behind my desk as he said, "You said Sookie was fine."

I nodded and said, "She was fine when I left her and I have not felt anything from our bond that would suggest that had changed."

He looked angry at my mention of the bond, and then he said, "Something's up."

"Something is up as you put it," I told him before again asking about Sookie's last day at work.

He shrugged and said, "It was work." Oh yes. He was going to be fabulous help.

"Was anything that you remember out of the ordinary, even the smallest bit?" If he did not remember anything, could I have been wrong in my thinking that it happened at his bar? Was the demon that placed the curse so powerful that it placed a curse on the entirety of the bar so no one would remember what happened?

Sam shook his head. "I wasn't out front too much. I was in and out stocking the bar. Sookie told me she was taking a break in my office…," He paused as if he remembered something.

"What?" I asked him, curious at his hesitation.

"She came back from her break and was serving a woman I didn't recognize."

"Is that unusual?"

"For a weeknight, anybody but a local's a bit unusual."

"Did anything seem off about her?" I asked, excited that I may have found my first real clue.

"Other than being not from Bon Temps, nothin' that I can remember."

"But Sookie served her?" He nodded at that and I asked him for a description of the woman.

"I don't know, Eric…," he told me as he sighed and collapsed himself back on my couch. "She was ordinary, nothin' special." I fought my inclination to put Merlotte's head through a wall. One, I did not want to have to spend the night with the odor of spackling in my office. Two, though it really did not seem it, Merlotte might be able to tell me something helpful. Maybe. Eventually.

He must have seen the look on my face because he tried. He tried as he told me, "She had blond hair, but it was a dye job. She was a few inches taller than Sookie…," He paused and his eyes lit up. I hoped he had remembered something useful before he started wagging his tail; his description fit most of the females in the state.

"There was a smell. I don't know if it was from her, but I remember running into the kitchen thinking something was burnin', it was on fire. Everything was fine, but I still smelled it."

That was something that I could work with and it almost confirmed Amelia and Cataliades' thoughts that there was a demon involved. Now I just needed to establish why the demon had targeted Sookie. I thought of the vampire that most likely still stood out at my bar. I thought of the King who was a state away. If they had wanted to get to me, using Sookie would be a way to go. I just did not think that they, especially Victor, would stay quiet for this long.

I thought of the Fae. Niall was supposedly getting his house in order after just having won a war. It seemed whenever there was war, there were always a few on the losing side who could just not let go. They had targeted Sookie before. Could they be doing so again?

I had no answer for that, but it was my hope that Cataliades would. I had anticipated hearing from the lawyer tonight, but I knew that he, too, was fighting for his safety and there was no guarantee he would be able to get back to me this evening. Hell, there was no guarantee he would be able to get back to me this week, this month. I knew that he cared for Sookie and for her he would get back to me as soon as he was able.

It just killed me that I had no idea when that would be.

"Do you remember Sookie leaving that night?" I said, trying to return the focus to something I could work on and then work through.

He thought for a few seconds before he told me that he did not. "She just wasn't there. She had a rough night and I figured she just left early."

"Rough night?" I asked. I did not expect the malicious look the shifter shot me at my question.

"She never blamed you. She understood that you were trying to keep yourself," he hesitated, and then added, "and her safe. _She understood that in her head, but that didn't mean she still wasn't hurt by you leaving her alone._ " I had surmised as much already. I knew that because I had felt it coming from her through our bond. I knew that from the voicemail she left me. I may have known, yet hearing it, hearing it aloud and from another man, the shifter, cut me deeper than I would have ever cared to admit.

"Her leg had been bothering her that night. She hit it against something and fell into the booth of the woman she was serving. It was a difficult night," he repeated.

"You did not call to see if she had made it home after you realized she was just missing?"

" _I'm not sure you're the one to be sayin' anything to me about not callin' her!"_ He had me there, but that was something I would never admit out loud, or admit it to him anyway. _"Did you feel anything from her that night?"_

His question to me caught me off guard. I quickly answered no because I had not, not anything that would be helpful anyway. I had felt her frustration while it echoed mine when she realized that I would not be seeing her again that night. I felt her pain and dismay while she must have been leaving the voicemail. I could not remember feeling anything else. I did not feel when she was cursed. As a matter of fact, I did not even realize anything was wrong until I woke the next evening.

What the hell could have caused that? My list of questions had just increased.

"What's wrong with her?" Sam asked, his voice concerned.

I explained to him that I was not going to tell him. I could see the anger returning to his face so I put up a hand to try and ward him off. "You could easily be used to try to obtain information, especially if it was determined to have happened at your diner."

"I would never-," he started to say. I interrupted him and said, "You could be forced."

It seemed as if he saw the logic of that in his head. "If you need help, will you let me know?"

I tried to keep my voice steady as I told him, "If there was anything you could do to help Sookie, I would let you know." I would have, not for him, but for her.

"And she really is okay?" I nodded. "I guess I'll have to trust that."

"I will need you to listen for information." It was his turn to nod while he told me he would do that as he turned and started to make his way out of my office.

"We still need to do something about Victor and you can never come into my bar like that again," Merlotte seemed to know exactly what would appease Victor.

"I'm not just gonna let you beat me up so you get to prove to your bloodsucker boss that you're a big, tough vampire," he told me.

"I would not give him the satisfaction," I told him and I meant it.

Sam sighed before he said, "So what do I need to do? To keep me safe, to keep Sookie safe, to not make it any harder for you to get us all out of this mess…what do I have to do?"

I thought for a few seconds before telling him, "Go home. You leave through the back door, and I will return to the bar and deal with Victor." I would not look forward to that. "Do not go into work for a few days. Try not to leave your house in that time. Victor will need to believe you were properly chastised. So, you think you could act the part?"

He grumbled, but admitted that it could have been the lesser of two evils. He was about to walk out the door when he turned and said, "She's safe?"

"Yes."

"You'll make sure she stays safe?"

"As long as I am on this planet."

He looked at me and gave me one last nod of his head before making his way out of the club using the back door. Once he was gone, I took a shower and changed my clothes, all to act the part that I had punished Merlotte before I returned to the bar and played nice with Victor. I wondered if he knew I was imagining all the ways I could kill him while we talked.

I walked into my house much later than I planned. Victor kept me at the club, but only by his mere presence. He did have some questions for me, but they were actually reasonable questions, much the same as Pam had experienced when she dealt with him. I still did not give him accurate answers, but I was more concerned with what could have caused his change in tactics. Was it simply a coincidence or was it part of a larger picture? With Cataliades not getting back to me yet this evening, it would not appear that any of my questions were to be answered this night.

I was about to go down to my room having sensed that Sookie was still asleep, but finding Amelia perched on the top step stopped me. Before I could say anything she said, "Sookie's down there. I didn't want her to wake up and be scared." She said it as if it had happened before. She continued by saying, "She woke up a few hours ago after having a nightmare. She wouldn't tell me what it was about, but she wanted to sleep in your bed. She said she felt safer. I didn't think you'd mind."

"I do not. Call me in the future though if she is frightened."

"I didn't know if you'd be able to talk," she said, and managed to keep most of the accusation out of her voice. _Most, but not all._

"Call hereafter," I told her while I stepped over her and started down the stairs. I had tried to keep the anger out of my voice, but I was not entirely sure I succeeded. I was not sure if I was more angry with myself for Amelia's words being true, or with her for simply calling attention to them.

I knew Pam had been there earlier and would be back before the sun rose. My guess was that my child was shopping though I was not entirely sure I wanted to know for what she was shopping.

I went downstairs and walked softly over to the bed where Sookie lay sleeping. Her eyes were moving behind her closed eyelids and I hoped that she was having much better dreams. I knelt down and moved back some of her hair that had fallen into her face and she stirred, not in a deep sleep. I gently called her name, wanting her to be awake when I moved her.

"You're home," she said with a smile on her face.

"And checking on you as I promised."

"Do you have to go to sleep now?"

"Soon."

"You'll need your bed back then," she told me, but she did not make a move to get out of it. I saw a sleepy glint in her eyes and though I would want nothing more for her to be with me during the day, I knew that it could not be, no matter how much I longed for it.

"You would not want to be locked down here with me all day," She nodded her head though not in agreement with my words.

"What would you eat?" I asked. She pushed her arms under the covers and I could smell the snacks she had packed for herself before she pulled them out to show me. "You would be bored," I told her.

"Nope," she said, popping the 'p'. "I brought books and coloring and I can make up stories!"

"And when you needed to use the bathroom?" I asked her.

I could see that she had no response for that one. "Maybe I should be upstairs. But who will stay with you when you have your nightmares?" she asked.

I looked at her little face filled with so much concern for me. "If I know you are safe and well, I will not have any nightmares," I answered. "Amelia said you had a nightmare?" She nodded and told me that it was a very scary one. "Do you want to tell me what made it so scary?"

"There's other kind of magic out there. Not yours and mine, but other, right?" she asked. I nodded and told her that there was. Her voice was vey quiet as she told me about her dream. "Someone with other magics, two someones, took me away. They took me away and they hurt me," she said, closer to an actual whisper. This was the way adult Sookie had sounded in the days that followed her kidnapping, after I had taken her back to her own home. "They hurt me right here," she said while she pulled her leg from under the comforter and pointed to a spot on her leg. I had not noticed it before, but she still had a faint scar there. There was further proof that I was, in fact, dealing with an adult Sookie in a little Sookie's body rather than a true regression.

"That must have been very scary," I told her, unsure what to say. Was I supposed to treat it as the nightmare she believed it to be or the memory it truthfully was?

"It was," she answered back. "I was very scared, but you didn't come to save me. You couldn't come to save me," she said, and suddenly I felt that we were no longer discussing a dream. "Your boss wouldn't let you!"

"I would have been there if I could have."

"You took care of me after. You fixed my boo-boos!"

"I tried. I did all that I could," I told her. I wondered if she realized that we were not simply speaking of her dream.

"Yes. Yes, you did," she told me while she looked right at me. It was then I realized that this was yet another conversation I should have had with Sookie. My only hope was that to talk about it now might help her remember and could help us in talking about it in the future.

"You won't let them take me again."

" _They will never_ ," I told her. Even if they were still alive, they would not have ever had a second chance to take her.

"You make things better, Eric," she told me. I was glad one of us thought so! Though it was always my intention when it came to Sookie, I was not certain that I was, indeed, making things better, but that was a discussion for another night as sunrise rapidly approached.

"Up to bed with you," I told her as I lifted her from my bed. Her little arms wrapped around my neck and I knew that was something I would very much miss. I hoped I would not soon have to miss her adult arms around my neck. "Do you want one surprise before bed?" A nod to my neck was all the response I received.

I rose up gently from the floor as to not frighten her and slowly began flying us up into her bedroom. Once she realized we were moving, Sookie let out a squeal. I flew us up to her room and right up onto her bed. I knelt down and kissed her forehead as I told her I hoped she had nicer dreams.

"Goodnight, Eric," she said, even though it was much closer to morning.

Goodnight, Sookie. Have a good day and I will see you when the sun sets."

As I was walking back downstairs, Pam met me and walked with me the rest of the way. "Amelia was talking to Tray earlier. He's been having a hard time. Amelia didn't say anything specific, didn't even really say anything about Sookie, but she overheard the conversation."

"And it gave her more memories," I said while I climbed into my bed.

Pam followed and I noticed that we would be sharing the bed again tonight. "Is that a bad thing?" she asked while she made herself comfortable.

"I do not know. I just do not know," I answered and her hand slipped into mine. It was something that worried us both, all the unknowns. It was not the most comforting thought to have as Death and the sun overtook me.

 **Sookie's memories sure seem to be fickle creatures at the moment. I do hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Many, many thanks to MsBuffy and her editing abilities for her help on this chapter.**

 **Merry Christmas to all those celebrating today! To those that aren't, I do hope you have a fantastical day and a great start to your weekend!**


	15. Chapter 14

I made my way into the kitchen having heard Sookie and Amelia long before even entering. Sookie kept telling Amelia to be quiet, even as she herself burst into giggles. She was also repeating the word 'surprise.' It sounded as if Amelia may have been trying to attempt to work on whispering with Sookie although it appeared that the lesson was not taking. Regardless of their whispering, I still would have been able to hear them.

I made my way into the kitchen with Pam on my heels and Sookie had, indeed, been correct. It was quite the surprise! I had grown accustomed to seeing Sookie eat when I arose from my day rest, be it a snack or a full meal depending on the time of day she awakened. Seeing her plate on the table was no surprise. The shock was seeing the two glasses of blood that also sat on the table!

"Surprise!" Sookie yelled the moment she saw us. She had probably practiced the shout as well though she had already proven that was unnecessary.

"What do you have there?" I asked as I walked further into the kitchen.

"Well, I knew you didn't eat food, but you still needed to eat," she said, excitement clear in her voice. "So I made you dinner, or breakfast, or whatever you call it," she added, sounding confused. She did not let her confusion over the term 'meal' she had prepared for us to slow her down though.

"But you drink blood, and I was scared about what I might have to do to get it," She did not allow the little shiver she let out at her own words slow her down either. "Then Amelia said we could buy you some blood so we went out and got some." I took the information that Amelia had taken her out and bought blood to file away for dealing with later. At that moment, Sookie had my full attention.

"And I even helped make it," she said excitedly while she jumped up and down. "Well, 'Melia let me push the buttons on the microwave, but she did the upside down, round and round mixing. I really hope you like it!" she finished, and then started to catch her breath. She had probably taken only one breath throughout her entire monologue.

The excitement that had filled her voice, her face, and her body had slowly begun dissipating. Unfortunately, it took me a few seconds to understand when the answer itself was quite simple. I had not yet thanked her. In fact, I had yet to say anything. I was worried how she had taken my silence as I crossed the kitchen and knelt in front of her. I took her into my arms and whispered a simple, "Thank you," into her ear.

"You haven't even tasted it yet," she told me while she giggled and pulled away.

"No one ever made me breakfast once I became a vampire," I told her. "You have been the first and I thank you."

"No one?" Sookie asked, sounding appalled by the idea.

"No one," I repeated. No one had made me breakfast ever since I was turned. It was not exactly a foreign thought in the world of a vampire, but Sookie seemed to not comprehend it.

"Well, then you really need to try some," she said while she skipped over to the side of the table. She grabbed the bottle meant for me with one hand and had begun to pull it off, but just the word "Careful," from Amelia kept me from having to dive across the table saving Sookie from impending danger. She slowly added a second hand to the bottle and carefully, watching every step, walked it over.

She made it over to me with only having spilled two small drops. My concern was her getting hurt on sharp glass if the bottle dropped and shattered, fortunately that did not happen, at least not until she tried to hold the bottle as I took a drink. That was what I assumed she had tried to do when she shoved the bottle into my face. The glass hit my teeth and I had to open my mouth very wide and swallow very quickly, but I managed to finish the bottle in fewer than ten seconds, which was a record, even for me.

"Did you like it? Did you like it?" she asked when she removed the bottle from my mouth and started to jump up and down again.

"I loved it," I told her while I took the bottle out of her hands and returned it to the table. I would certainly not tell her the truth. The bottled blood tasted like sludge, worse than sludge, or it usually did anyway. Do not be mistaken; I would never choose to drink blood from a bottle, but I would drink down every last drop out of any bottle that Sookie 'made' me.

The bright smile on Sookie's face was a great reward for the tiny lie I told her. Although if I loved it simply because she made it, was it actually a lie? Sure, it tasted like garbage, but I did not lie from the viewpoint that I loved anything Sookie did for me.

I found myself in quite the conundrum.

It was enough that Sookie took her focus off of me and pointed it at Pam, the ecstatic look never having left her face.

"Delicious," Pam told her, managing her own small smile and keeping the disdain out of her voice. "Thank you, Sookie," Pam said while she slowly sipped the sludge disguised as sustenance for vampires.

"I made you breakfast!" she said excitedly.

"That you did," I told her. "Have you eaten your dinner?" She nodded. "Would you like to play with Pam then for a few minutes?" I did not have to ask twice when Sookie took Pam's hand and pulled her from the kitchen.

Amelia left through the other exit while I followed behind her and said, "You removed her from the protection of my house."

"I knew you would have a problem with that," she said as she sighed and turned around.

"Yet you still did it."

"What would you have me do, Eric?" she said while she spun around and faced me. Her anger was something unexpected. "Did you think I would just stay here like a trapped prisoner?"

"I wanted you to take care of Sookie during the day when I could not," I told her while I rethought my entire plan. I could have had some of the waitresses from Fangtasia come over to watch Sookie during the day. My thoughts then went to Ginger on babysitting duty and I realized that would not have been the best plan either.

That was when Amelia said, "So it was just her you wanted to keep trapped here as a prisoner."

That was the absolute last thing I wanted! What I wanted was to keep her safe, but in doing so, or trying to do so, I had hurt her before. Was I repeating my previous mistake? Was my paranoia of keeping her here in order to keep her safe making her feel as if she was a prisoner?

"I would not want either of you to feel as if that was true."

Amelia's face softened at my words or perhaps it was the tone I used, "I want her safe too, Eric. I thought we could work together to make sure she was safe outside the walls of the house."

"She will not be this way forever," I said.

"We all hope that the spell ends, but what if it doesn't? When will we let her out? When she's been this way for six months? A year? Two? None of us would like to believe that this will last more than a few more days, but what if it lasts longer? We have to start working on that possibility as well."

I stayed quiet, not having much to add to the conversation at that moment. Everything Amelia said was true, but how could I protect Sookie from the world? If anyone learned of her current form it would be a disaster, but what if we could not find a way to reverse the curse?

"I met Tray and another wolf from his pack, and we told him that Sookie was my sister. We had protection when we went out, and Tray even bought a child's seat to make Sookie safer in the car. We were safe, Eric, as safe as we could be, and Sookie had a great time. We made it back all safe and sound."

As much as I wanted to, I did not know if I could fault her. If she had asked me whether or not she could take Sookie out beforehand, my answer would have been unequivocally no! I would have never even considered it. I would have ensured that Sookie was safe behind the walls of this house.

However, was that the correct thing to do?

I had witnessed the results of the last time that I had taken it upon myself to ensure Sookie's safety. It left her hurt, me miserable, and honestly, none of us that much safer. That was not something I could repeat. Victor had already commented on the fact that she had not been to Fangtasia recently. That was something I would have to rectify, and the only way that could be done was if Sookie took a trip to Fangtasia. There was no way in hell I would take her there at night. The person whom I would have to depend on to get her there and back safely stared at me, intelligently waiting for me to design the entire plan.

I could not keep Sookie a prisoner. It would break her. Nevertheless, I would do all that I could, and that meant more than two Weres and a witch to ensure she was safe if Amelia took her out. "You will not take her out again until I have arranged more security," I told her as I tried to show as much restraint as I could in my words. The added fact that I had not thrown anything and there were no holes anywhere the room was a testament to my control.

Amelia smiled, but it was a sad one. It was as if she knew that though this might have been in Sookie's best interest, it was not easy for me.

"She will be okay, Eric," she told me, but at that point I was not sure if it was her or me she was truly trying to convince.

"She better be," I told her, and just as with Amelia's last comment, I was not sure if I was talking more to her or me.

I unfortunately had to say good night to Sookie after my conversation with Amelia. I would be gone until past the time she would be asleep and though I would have loved it if she were, indeed, awake when I returned home, I knew that she needed the sleep.

I found her in Pam's room and I was shocked with what I found there. Pam had allowed Sookie to wear a pair of her shoes! They were only a few sizes too big, of course. "Look, Eric," Sookie said when she saw me. "I'm playing dress-up."

"Could we play dress-up in some flatter shoes?" I asked, catching her before she could fall.

"Where would be the fun in that?" my troublemaking child asked.

"Yeah! That's no fun!" Sookie said even as she tripped again in the high heels.

"It would be safer," I explained, or I tried to anyway.

"Safer, schmwafer," Sookie said as her hand rose and she waved it quickly in a sarcastic motion. I was not sure what she meant by the term 'schmwafer,' but I could not keep the smile off my face. I also knew that I would not be able to talk her out of those high heels. My child might have just created a monster with her influence.

"I hope you have a good time while continuing to play," I told her.

"You have to leave," she said, and she no longer smiled.

"Yes," I replied, not giving her one of the reasons that I had to leave. I did not want to raise her hopes if things did not work out.

"Will you check on me again when you get back?" she asked.

"I will, but if you have fallen asleep, I will not wake you," She looked as if she was about to argue but I told her, "You need sleep to grow big and strong," I mentally added that having the curse reversed would accomplish the same thing.

I was surprised when that seemed to appease her. She came over, gave me a hug, and then gave me a kiss on my cheek.

"Be careful," she told me, and shook her finger in my face.

"Nothing will ever prevent me from coming home to you."

"Not even your bosses?"

"Not even them."

She nodded at that and wished me another goodnight. Pam would be staying home as well and as long as nothing else occurred that needed her attention. She wanted the time with Sookie, but I knew she also wanted the time with Amelia, which was something that I did not understand, but I would not begrudge my child that.

Not yet anyway.

Once I left my house, I called Thalia whom I knew would be at Fangtasia that night. She made a point to be there when Pam and I were not, knowing that we needed to ensure any information there was safe and that Victor was never alone there. Having said that, it was a large sacrifice for the female vampire who usually preferred to be alone. It said a great deal that she was spending so much more time at Fangtasia with other vampires. And humans. And she was not killing them. That might have been the most surprising fact of all.

"When Victor shows," I said _when_ knowing it would not be a question of _if,_ "let him know that I will be completing Area business and I will be at the club in a few hours."

"Should I wait until he comes in to tell him or make sure he knows before?" she asked and I knew what her words meant.

"She is there?" I asked, speaking of the spy I knew was reporting to Victor. She had applied to move to Area Five mere days before the takeover.

"Ensure that he knows beforehand, but be certain to tell him once he arrives." It would do us little good if Victor realized that we knew he had a spy amongst us. He would stop accepting the information we fed him and would send another. With all the new vampires coming into the Area, it would have been difficult to determine the new spy.

"Done," Thalia said, and I knew telling her would ensure that. She asked if there was anything else I needed. When I told her there was not, she hung up having reached her word limit. That left me to take care of my Area business.

I was on my way to speak with Jason Stackhouse.

I did not know how to accurately describe what I felt at the instinct. I might have said fear, but it was not the fear of actually discussing something with Jason. If there was fear at all, it was fear for the situation, the fear of speaking with Jason meant that I believed there was a chance that this could not be resolved quickly, the fear of what meeting her adult brother could do to the child Sookie whom I had been with over the past few days. The situation had been going well within the circumstances, but this might be exactly what could cause an implosion.

I went to Stackhouse's house first, but it would be a lie if I said that I expected him to actually be there. Part of me was most likely trying to delay the conversation, yet when I saw his car in the driveway and only heard one heartbeat coming from the house, I knew that there would be no delay.

There would be no delay as soon as I walked up to the door and knocked, which was what I did after I spent a few minutes considering what I would tell him.

To say he was shocked when he answered the door and saw me standing there would be quite the understatement. After a few seconds, his confusion turned to worry when he looked around and discovered that his sister had not accompanied me. He responded to that finding much as Merlotte had. "What've you done with my sister?"

I ignored his words, well, at best; I tried. I could not fault where his thoughts had gone and that was something that damn near killed me.

"She is unhurt," I told him. That would be the first thing that I would want to know if I was concerned with anyone in my family. That included Sookie.

"Really?" he said with concern in his voice. That did not last when he then said, "I wouldn't say she wasn't hurt the last time I seen her." His eyes held the bite he could not get in his voice, not with the concern that was still present.

I was done with the blame everyone had been placing on me, however well-deserved. I could only change the future; the past was not something that I could touch. "She was so hurt that you left your laundry at her house?" I asked, and he had enough decency to look ashamed at my words. I just hoped the look on my face did not match the look upon his.

"She ain't ever said not to," he told me while his hand came up and rubbed the back of his head. He had a sheepish look on his face, but that started to fade as anger replaced it. I needed to end this. The two of us tearing into each other would not accomplish anything, nothing that would have benefitted Sookie. It would have made both of us feel better, but, in the end, that would not have been enough to sustain us through the situation.

Hell, Jason did not even know what was happening.

"Perhaps we should discuss this inside?" I asked. "Please?" I added, hoping to make sure he understood I was not simply asking for comfort. He nodded and simply walked in through the house, not turning around until he heard me say, "I have to be invited." Even then, he turned briefly just to say, "C'mon in," while he continued to walk into his house.

"Sookie would like to see you," I started.

"Well, then, where's she at?" he asked.

"My house."

"If she wanted to see me, how she come she's not with you?"

"She cannot," I answered him.

"You just said she was fine!"

"She is unhurt, but she was left unable to come and visit you. I needed to ask if you would come and visit her. It would be more than a visit, in fact." I explained to him that I would take him to my house, but that he would have to stay there with his sister for the foreseeable future. "You could be captured, glamoured, or used against Sookie. That would be something that Sookie would not want. If you agree, tomorrow I will come and take you to your sister, but you must remain there until all can be settled."

"Why tomorrow?" he asked. I was not surprised that was his focus of the conversation. It was the easiest information to grasp. "I wanna see Sook tonight."

"To ensure that you have time to think things over and make sure that this, staying at my house indefinitely, would be something with which you feel secure. I also have every intention of being positive in having a way to transport you to my house that will not endanger your sister."

"I would never put my sister in danger!" he yelled, thinking that I was accusing him of having done just that.

"So do you not want to make certain that every precaution has been met before you reunite with her?" The look on his face demonstrated that he did not understand my words. I gave an internal sigh and said, "We need to take every precaution to make certain your sister stays safe. I needed tonight to ensure that."

"But tomorrow you'll take me to my sister?"

"I will, but you cannot tell anyone that you have met with me or will be seeing your sister," I was placing a great deal of faith in Jason Stackhouse. I was relying on the fact that I knew he loved his sister and would want to keep her safe. Those were only things we would ever have in common.

"An' I'll see Sookie tomorrow?" That was where he had chosen to place his focus. I just hoped that everything else was understood. I nodded and he told me, "Then we got us a deal."

"I will see you tomorrow night then," I told him, and then I made my way out of his house.

That discussion had been the easiest part of my evening, excluding any part that dealt with Sookie. I was about to leave for Fangtasia when my phone rang. Looking at the number, I recognized it as one of the many that Cataliades used. I quickly answered the call, relieved that he had been finally able to reach me.

At his words, the relief left me just as quickly when he said, "We have a problem."

 **Hello dear readers. I do hope you are having a good weekend. I also hope you have enjoyed this chapter. I wonder what information Cataliades may have ;) Many thanks to MsBuffy for her help with this one!**


	16. Chapter 15

"I knew there was a problem, Desmond," I told him. "That was the reason I contacted you and asked for your assistance."

He sighed over the phone. "If it only it was that simple."

 _Simple?_ I wished that I could have reached through the phone and shook him, but it was apparent to me that he had some vital information. "I doubt I would be certain to define the situation and its resultant consequences as simple," I said, still cautious in describing anything over the phone. I was confident that my phone lines were not bugged, but I would not risk anything.

"As difficult as the circumstances might be, I might consider it simple before adding in any further complications."

He fell silent after that, which allowed me to absorb his words. "Did you plan to continue to leave me in suspense?"

He heaved another sigh, which was anything but a positive sign. "When was the last time you were at the house?" he asked. He used the same caution that I had. I informed him that it had been several nights prior. "There were indications that others have been there since," he told me ominously.

I had been just about to relay that news to him, that I was already aware that Sam and Jason had obviously been by the house after I had. However, the lawyer would not have sounded as distraught had he merely seen evidence of only the shifter and her brother's presence in the farmhouse. He most likely would not have even mentioned it if he knew it had been just them.

"Who?" I asked. He hesitated for a fraction of a second before he went on to inform me that it had been some of her 'relatives.' Now, I had heard of the expression "seeing red" many times in the past, and though I had plenty of opportunities to have seen the color throughout my thousand years, it was, indeed, the very first time _I_ _truly saw_ _RED_.

 _Fairies! Fucking fairies!_

It was the Fae who had caused her so much terror and pain only mere weeks ago! Could they have been behind this most recent catastrophe? Would someone have hired the Fae to have caused this? To what end? To attempt to take Sookie and end me? I was back to having questions racing through my mind when all I had anticipated was the lawyer being able to provide me with some answers or resolutions for our dilemma.

"I have placed a call," I heard him state, pulling me out of my deliberations. I assumed from his words that he had placed a call to Niall; for me that was the least comforting idea! A call to Niall when he was not even attempting to restructure the Faery realm would result in precious time we did not have before we could even count on him returning Cataliades' call! In addition, I had my doubts as to whether Niall was even trustworthy. He might not hurt his own kin, but he certainly was not above manipulating them to suit his needs.

"Just what reasons are telling me this over the phone rather than face to face?" I asked him while I tried to remain focused on the conversation. I would concentrate on thoughts of Niall once I gathered all the information Cataliades could convey.

"I went to Merlotte's," he revealed, and then he hesitated. It was unlike the lawyer to appear so unraveled. "I was able to be there for only minutes, and then I had to leave."

The hidden gist behind his words presumably meant that Madden and de Castro had somehow discovered he was in the state and had found his location. They wanted information only Cataliades had access to regarding some of Sophie-Anne's holdings. The lawyer had risked a great deal by having spoken to me, in helping me, and having helped Sookie.

"You are most popular," I told him and he gave a small laugh.

"That's one way of putting it," he responded. "Have you had Sookie checked by a doctor?" he asked.

I cursed myself for not having thought of something so simple. In a situation where I felt next to helpless, it was the one thing that I could have done. "You believe that might be necessary?"

"I believe you should cover your bases."

"Do you have knowledge of whom it was that caused this?"

He hesitated once more before he said, "There was enough evidence left that may point me in the direction of what might have been responsible." I noticed that though I had asked _whom,_ he responded with _what._ I heard something in the background before Cataliades told me that he had to go and he would be in contact again soon. I could only hope the next contact would be face to face.

I dreaded my trip to Fangtasia, the scenarios of just what Victor could have in store for me that night went through my head while I traveled. I was pleasantly surprised when he was absent upon my arrival. When an hour had passed without having seen or heard from _'the Regent,'_ I might have silently begun rejoicing. It allowed me time to get through Area business I would not have had the time to complete in his presence.

The rejoicing ended when I had heard nothing out of him throughout the entire evening. Though on the one hand I could not have been more relieved, on the other, I was concerned over the prospect of what it could possibly involve. Was he personally after Desmond? Could he in any way be aware of something regarding Sookie? Was he attempting to lull me into a false sense of security? Should I just be appreciative for my temporary reprieve?

I was not certain that grateful was a proper term for what I felt, but as I left Fangtasia, I was relieved for all I had been able to accomplish that night. I had finally been able to proactively complete something rather than reactively. I had sent several of my vampires, ones whom I knew were loyal to me, to the other Areas of the state. Both they and I knew that they would be watched carefully. That was all part of my plan. They would be watched and with any luck, the vampires I sent that would truly be my eyes and ears on the newly de Castro-appointed Sheriffs might go undetected.

My last act of the evening was to call upon the troll, Dr. Ludwig. As with all our conversations, it was not exactly a pleasant one. I suppose I should have been relieved that she granted my terms once I threatened her. When she said she would not be able see Sookie until the following night due to the fact that it was not truly an emergency, I could not say I responded well. I considered Sookie's wellbeing an emergent situation always, even though Sookie had no medical symptoms that suggested anything was wrong, still, Ludwig disagreed.

I did not know who was less likely to survive Sookie's check-up, the miserable, vile, and miserly troll doctor or me.

I thought the call would be my final act of the night. I could not go to my rest without having looked on Sookie, however. I did not venture past her doorway for fear of waking her with so little time before dawn. I just needed to see her.

I had made so many mistakes with her adult counterpart, yet all the while I thought I had been doing just the opposite. I hoped I was not making similar mistakes. I prayed to the Gods that I would have a chance to set things right after the curse was broken. I prayed that Sookie would take a chance and still might want to work with me to make things right. I clung to the fact that she hadn't said she never wanted to see me again in her voicemail; she hadn't told me to stay away. That was all that was left for me to hold onto.

I noticed Sookie herself was holding onto something rather tightly in her little arms while asleep. I dared to take one step into the room to see what it was she gripped so tightly. I was surprised to find that it was the pillow that she had taken from her house that night I found her in the woods, the one she said that smelled good, the one on which I had detected my scent. When she muttered my name in her sleep as she clutched the pillow, I was left with something more on which to cling. That was the thought I took with me when I went to my day rest.

I heard the voice of the doctor when I rose and I also felt from Sookie what seemed to me more than a great deal of distress. I knew immediately it was something I would make certain ceased at once. I was in the living room beside Sookie in the next second. Instead of looking shocked at my sudden arrival, Sookie grabbed my arm and hid her head in my side. I looked from Ludwig to Amelia who was seated next to Sookie and asked, "Why have I heard her crying?" through clenched teeth. I attempted as hard as I possibly could to not cause Sookie any further distress based on my reactions.

The answer to my question did not come from either of the adult females in the room. No, the answer came from the tiny human who was currently trying to strangle my arm, if that action was possible. The problem was, even with my vampire hearing, I could not understand what it was she was sobbing. Unfortunately, my sensitive hearing could not understand childlike and hysterical Sookie. I tried once more and gave her my complete attention; still I could not make out her response. I chose to ignore the despicable doctor and Amelia as I knelt on the floor while I brought Sookie around before me. I tried to detach her in order for me to see her face, hoping I could better understand her, but her arms simply released then clamped onto my neck.

"What is wrong?" I asked her again softly while I attempted to gentle my tone as much as I possibly could. I removed the anger I felt toward both of the adults.

"Noooooo shooooootttttt," Sookie wailed into my ear.

I looked at Ludwig feeling as if I wanted to scream at her for having brought a weapon to this appointment when I noticed that she held up a needle. The shot Sookie that referred to was not a shot from a gun, but a shot from a needle that the troll had been trying to give Sookie.

"Was that necessary?" I asked Ludwig, hesitant to allow her to bring the fearsome item any closer.

Unfortunately the loathsome troll doctor nodded and said quietly, "If you wanted me to ensure that all was right with her, then, yes." That was what I had been afraid of when I saw the needle. "I will need to run some tests on her blood to be certain."

I returned my attention to Sookie and told her, "No shot. You will not be getting a shot."

"No shot," she said, and lifted her head up from my neck. Her voice was surprisingly clear having taken into consideration the sobs she had emitted mere seconds ago. That made no sense. I had no idea how she managed that.

"No, it will not be a shot."

Sookie did not leave my side, but looked to the troll. "She's still holding the shot," Sookie said, attempting a whisper in her voice.

"It will not be a shot," I repeated, but judging upon the look on her face she did not believe me. "It will be a needle; a shot would put something into your blood. That special needle was designed to take out your blood."

"Like your fangs!" she said excitedly. Well, it was not exactly like that, but I could see how her little mind might connect the two ideas. I had shown her my fangs during one of our flights, much to her delight.

"My fangs allow the blood to," I paused, not sure if I knew exactly how I could word it, "come out of the person," I finished.

"And then you can drink it!"

"Yes."

"Are you gonna drink this blood?"

"No. _No one will drink this blood_ ," I repeated and emphasized while I looked straight into Ludwig's face. I was satisfied when she gave me a nod. She might have been many things, the foul-mouthed and tiny troll doctor, but she was no liar.

"It will be placed into this tube," I told her. She looked at the tube appraisingly.

"Will you stay with me?" she asked.

"Right here next to you."

"Will you sing to me?" I told her yes before I realized that my mind was not offering any songs she might actually understand. Still, my words were what convinced her to allow Ludwig to draw her blood. Sookie closed her eyes while the troll approached her and squeezed my hand when the needle entered. When I started to sing to her in my native language, she sat back and leaned against my chest. She did not seem to notice when Ludwig pulled the needle out of her arm and placed a cartoon-covered bandage over the small wound. It was not until I finished the song that Sookie opened up her eyes and asked if it was all done.

"You make everything better, Eric!" she squealed while she gave me a hug.

If only that was true.

I hoped there was one more thing I could make better tonight. I was hoping I could reunite Sookie with her brother. My cell phone, which had thankfully been silent thus far, was leaving me with the wishful thought I would be able to keep my word to the male Stackhouse and bring him to my house. I knew I would have to put in time at Fangtasia afterward, especially with not knowing what Madden was up to with his silence, but hopefully her brother might be enough of a distraction for Sookie.

"How old are you, Sweetheart?" Ludwig asked while she looked at the blood she had collected. I had no idea what simply looking at the blood might tell her. I also had no idea what Sookie meant when she told the doctor she was 'a whole hand' in response to Ludwig's question.

"A whole hand?" I asked.

The response I received was Sookie's tiny hand in my face. "Yes, a whole hand! See?" I saw five squirming fingers.

"You are five?" I asked.

"Yes. That's a whole hand, silly," she told me as if it were a concept I should have known.

"Five-years-old, you're such a big girl," Ludwig said. Sookie smiled and agreed with the doctor, well, at least she agreed until the foolish troll asked if she was eating all her fruits and vegetables. That was when Sookie stopping talking to Ludwig. However, the stupid troll never knew when to stop and continued to tell her that if she wanted to stay a big girl she would have to eat properly. That was another thing I would be sure to make certain.

When it was time for the troll doctor to leave I told her that I would accompany her to the door. I wanted to learn her thoughts, and it would also allow me the time I needed to go and retrieve Jason.

"You're leaving too?" Sookie asked.

"Yes, but not for work yet. I have to go out because I told you I wanted to bring you a surprise," I told her. She seemed more than okay once I reminded her. I wondered if she still would be more than okay after she saw all the fruits and vegetables I would also be getting.

When the door was closed behind Ludwig and me, I asked the doctor what she thought. The troll looked at me and said, "She is a healthy five-year-old."

"Yet she is not five," I told the doctor.

"For all intents and purposes she is, Northman," I looked sharply at her. "I know you had hoped to break the curse and for her revert to her adult self, but I also hoped you had planned for things if that did not come to pass."

Ludwig was not the only one who had said that to me, but I understood that she was considering Sookie's health and it was what made me actually hear what she was said. "She must eat properly. She will need to get the proper amount of sleep. Granted, she must be protected, but she will have to be able to be let out of that house! She won't be able to spend all day and night in there! She might need schooling. If you are not able to reverse the curse, you will have to be the one who raises her."

I did not want to have to think about the look on my face at her words when the troll told me she would leave me to my thoughts and left me there, astounded, on my front steps. Raise Sookie? I might have to raise Sookie? That was not exactly the relationship improvement I had planned. I was not even sure how to raise a child! Yes, there was the obvious, you made sure said child did not hurt itself, but how did one shape him or her into a person? I doubted handing Sookie a sword and teaching her how to wield it would have completed the job!

Yet, even as all of these doubts circled my mind, there was one thought that was never in question, never once. If it was what Sookie needed of me, it was what she would get. That was the thought that I held onto while I climbed into my car. That was the idea that propelled through me the supermarket while I picked up healthy foods for Sookie. That thinking was what drove me to Jason's house where I watched the older Stackhouse as he peered out the window as if he had been waiting for my arrival. While I carried the suitcase that was already packed and waiting at the door, it seemed as if that was the case.

"I take it that means you still want to come."

He looked at me as if I was the one who had been dropped a few times too often as a child when he told me that he wanted to see his sister. I repeated my words to him that it might be some time before he could return to his home. He informed me that he understood and had called off work for the next few weeks.

With nothing left to be said, we both got into my car and I began the drive to my house and took extra precautions to ensure that I was not being followed. I had thought of the many ways of just how to prepare him for what he was about to discover. There was no way I could not rely on his reaction if he had no warning of what he was to find. At the same time, I had doubts that he would believe me.

Hell, if I had not been living it, I had doubts I would have believed it if someone had told me!

"You will notice that Sookie will be somewhat different since the last time you saw her," I told him.

Jason looked to the wheel, and then looked back to me. If I had not been driving he might have attacked me, or at least tried. It was one of the more intelligent moments I had ever seen in Jason when it seemed he decided otherwise. "You turned her into a vamper," Jason said accusingly.

"No," I answered him automatically. "I did not nor do I have any plan to turn your sister into a vamp _ire_ ," I told him as I emphasized the last part of the word. I believe he understood that I had no appreciation of the slang term in yet another one of his oddly more intelligent moments.

"Different how then?" he asked, his voice still holding accusation.

I explained the physical differences that Jason would see while I avoided using the actual word ' _child_.' I did not know if that was something Jason might be able to handle without truly seeing Sookie. I was also uncertain if I could even admit to myself what bringing Jason to my home really meant. Ludwig's words regarding what I might need to do came back to me. Having invited Jason, I was already on that train of thought, so to speak. If I thought that all could be resolved within another night or two, I might not have bothered. While I still held out hope they would not be necessary, I knew it was time to start making longer-term plans.

We pulled up to my house. Satisfied that we had not been followed, even though I had begun considering changing houses just to be sure, I took hold of the bags of food, carried them into the house, and braced myself for what this reunion could bring.

Once Jason and I entered my house, I was fully aware of the many things I had expected of this Sookie. I had expected her to be a little timid around the adult version of her brother, perhaps even a little scared. I thought she might be a little confused, especially if she tried to listen in on his thoughts. I expected she would run to me. I should have known by then that what I expected was never in reality what would happen.

I never thought Sookie would run right up to her brother, wrap her little arms around his legs, and then call him by name. As I judged by the looks of others in the room, that was the last thing they had all expected as well.

What the fuck was going on?

It was only after Sookie scolded, "No using bad words, Eric," that I realized I had said the words aloud! That was the reason I repeated them to myself about a hundred times in my head.

 **Hello dear readers. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as we have another little thing to ponder. Answers….well at least some of them will be coming soon. As always, thanks to MsBuffy for her fantabulous editing and input!**

 **I was able to upload a few more chapters (FF is still being temperamental about that) but I wasn't able to reply to any reviews :(. I do appreciate them and will respond and post whenever FF will allow. I will finish this one here.**


	17. Chapter 16

I thought by not revealing to Jason that Sookie had reverted to her childhood form that things might have gone better. I thought it might have limited the less intelligent things the elder Stackhouse sometimes said.

Much like my imagined reactions Sookie could have given when presented with her brother, I should have known that I could never have predicted what would happen.

At least Jason did not shove Sookie off of his legs. I could not even fathom what those repercussions might have brought. Sookie obviously remembered her brother in her current form and his adult one. He actually put his hand on her head, and that caused Sookie to squeeze her brother's leg harder.

Jason looked at both Pam and I, and then I watched as a thought formed and appeared on his face. "I didn't think you guys could have kids."

It was Sookie who first responded. Pam simply stared at the man, though I had an idea of the thoughts that were running through her head based upon the look on her face. "Pam is Eric's child, but he's not her daddy."

Yes, that had been a very interesting concept to attempt explaining to Sookie's young mind.

Suddenly, it was as if I was the mind reader. I saw the statement form in the male Stackhouse's head, and my goal was to remove him from the situation before he actually told Sookie she needed to go back to her daddy.

I was most certainly not the daddy.

I should have known better than to try to be subtle with Jason during the car ride over. The elder Stackhouse was not the best at comprehending subtlety. "Sookie, I will need to borrow Jason for a minute."

"But he just got here!" she said, sounding as if she was about to cry. I had come to learn that just because she sounded as if she was going to cry, it did not mean she would actually cry. Amelia said it was Sookie's way of attempting to get what she wanted. That was something I truly agreed with her on because I most assuredly did want to give Sookie what she wanted when she used that voice.

"I will bring him right back," I told her. The 'him' in question opened his mouth to say something, but after he took in the expression on my face, for once he wisely kept his mouth shut. Maybe he could learn…

I grabbed his arm and started to pull him into the kitchen with me, leaving Sookie alone with Pam. "Cute kid an' all, Eric," he told me while he rubbed the back of his head. "But you said I was gonna see my sister. Where is she?" he asked and held out his arms as he looked around the room in an exaggerated manner.

"You have already seen her."

He dropped his arms and said, "Nope. Ain't seen her yet." I gave him a few seconds, waiting to see if he could connect the dots. I cannot comprehend what I thought I was doing, it would be difficult for the mind of an actual genius to understand that their adult sister was only slightly older than a toddler was.

"I told you that she would be different while we drove here."

"You said smaller and squeakier." Those were not my specific terms, but I was honestly surprised he had retained any understanding of our conversation. That was when I noticed realization slowly dawn in his eyes. His hands moved down to his legs to the approximate height Sookie's head came to when she had grasped them. "No," he said stubbornly. I could not fault him for that. I repeated that term to myself many times after I came across tiny Sookie in the woods. "No," he repeated when I remained silent rather than attempting to correct his thoughts. "What the hell happened?"

Was that not the question of the last few days?

I took the time to explain to Jason all I knew regarding what had happened to his sister. Unfortunately, that did not take much time because the amount of information I had was quite limited. "It was a curse. A demon cursed your sister." Yes, that was the entire summary of the situation.

"Cursed her to become a tiny person?" Well, at least he had grasped that idea. It seemed as if he did not comprehend that his sister's mind also matched her new exterior.

"A child," I answered, not able to continue to not use that term to describe the situation.

Never had I been more relieved that I built my own furniture for the kitchen, that way after Jason collapsed into the chair, the chair did not collapse onto the floor.

"When?" Jason asked me.

"Almost a week ago."

He nodded his head at that as if that bit of news made sense in his world. I was relieved that something made sense to someone.

"Does she realize it?" When I told him she did not, he then asked, "Does she think things are gonna be like they was before?" I knew he was most likely referring to his parents and grandmother.

"She mentioned certain things," I explained to him, remembering the conversation about her grandmother over warm milk. "However, she seemed to somehow have knowledge of selected aspects of the past."

He nodded and said, "She recognized me."

"That was something I did not expect," I told him honestly. "You have been the first person that she recognized."

"Maybe cause I'm her brother," he said as if it was that simple. I was about to discount that idea, but perhaps he had something there. They were blood relatives. Could that be why Sookie had recognized her brother? Using that theory, she should have been able to recognize and know me through our blood bond. It seemed that with each potential answer, more questions arose.

"So, what should we do with her?" Jason asked after a couple seconds of silence.

"Well, she seems to enjoy coloring," I answered while I started to make my way back into the living room.

"Yeah. Her room was always covered in them," he said as he followed me. "Treat her like she's a kid? It's that simple?"

"That is what we have been doing. I would not describe it as simple though," I told him as I entered the living room. I paused at the doorway when I saw my usual neutral living room was now covered in pink. Even with Pam as my child, I had no idea there were so many shades of pink. Pam would have never worn that many shades simultaneously.

One of the pink piles suddenly came at me and yelled, "Eric! You're back!"

"I am," I said when I caught the pile mid-leap. Sookie's head peeked out of the pink as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I asked, working very hard to keep my voice steady and calm. No, I would not blame Sookie, as I was certain my child deserved all the blame, but I did not want to frighten Sookie.

"Playing dress up!" she squealed while she took one of the pink shirts off and tried to put it on my head.

"I do not think it will fit," I told her as the shirt became lodged in my mouth while she tried to get it past my head, no matter how much it refused to move. I put Sookie down, wrestled the shirt off my head, and then I turned my attentions to Pam. "What did you do?"

"She bought me clothes! She bought me clothes!" Sookie answered for her while she jumped up and down.

"She needed some clothes that fit," Pam told me as she carefully watched my face. She knew I was hesitant to make any further purchases for Sookie. I felt that in doing so I would be admitting that she would be spending more time in this form under these circumstances, yet I could not deny that these items would fit her much better than the ones she had been wearing.

"I only purchased enough clothing for seven days," Pam told me, but I was reaching the point where I had to admit that they might be needed for much longer. What I would not admit was that my child bought Sookie seven days worth of clothes. The amount scattered around my living room seemed too much for simply seven days. When I glared at her demanding an explanation, her response was that children were messy.

I could not fault her there.

Though I was not happy I had to go to Fangtasia, I could not say that I was unhappy to be leaving behind all the pink, even if the one wearing most of it was Sookie.

"Would you like it if Jason told you a bedtime story tonight?" I asked Sookie. Never once in my entire unlife as a vampire did I ever imagine that I would use the term 'bedtime story.' That had been one of the least innocuous terms that I had used ever since I had found Sookie in the woods.

Sookie nodded and told me that would be acceptable. "As long as it's not a scary one," she added, glaring at her brother.

"Those are the best ones," Jason said, whining as if he was the child. "Wait. You're leavin'?" he asked. He looked less than thrilled at being left alone with Sookie and Pam. It probably was due to all the pink, that, and his sister was trying to find ways that he could wear any of the pieces.

I cannot say that I was upset to be leaving the pink behind, though it just might be the only thing I was not upset at the prospect of leaving.

With no contact from Madden last night and no contact from him thus far tonight, I had grown concerned over what his sudden silence could mean. Though it was a much welcomed silence, I knew what it could bring was most certainly not welcome.

Sookie was so excited about seeing her brother that I almost did not receive the hug goodbye that I had become accustomed to getting. I stood there for a minute after I wished Sookie a goodnight, but her attentions barely left her brother while she tried to convince him that pink really was his color. Grown Sookie had no particular attachment to the color and I wondered when it left her.

Taking into consideration her life had been a little less than easy, I wondered what else she might have lost on her journey to adulthood.

When Pam could no longer hold back her laughter while I stood there, waiting for my hug, I turned around and started to leave for Fangtasia. I did not even make it to the hallway before Sookie was up and running after me, calling my name. "You can't leave without your hug," she told me when she reached me.

"I would not dream of it," I told her as I knelt down to her height, or at least a height that was closer to her current one. The heaviness that had developed in my chest vanished when her tiny arms wrapped around my neck.

"It will help you with your grumpy bosses," she told me. I could not argue with her on that.

As I took off for Fangtasia, scenario after scenario of what could have caused Madden's sudden silence ran through my mind. The timing of it, after Merlotte's appearance, was worrisome. I very much doubted it could be coincidence. I also doubted that luck had finally come my way, that he had managed to fall on a small splinter, and was finally dead. I was sure that was not the case because de Castro would have at least sent out a memo regarding the death. Pity…

I walked into Fangtasia using the back entrance. I wanted to avoid the crowds tonight if at all possible. I was simply not in the mood to deal with the usual vermin who frequented the club. Yet I was also hesitant to use my office not having been able to search for listening devices this evening. That was the first order of business when I opened the door only to find Thalia doing just that. I could not be sure just how far into the process she was, so I remained silent until she shook her head and said, "Nothing," when she finished her search.

Again, that was another oddity. Since the takeover, it was rare night that went by when we found none. Some nights they stayed and I discussed nothing of importance. Other nights they were destroyed, but two nights in a row where there were none present? That was unheard of under de Castro's regime.

"The spy?" I asked, checking with Thalia if she had been in tonight. After another negative response, I started to call the contacts I had in the other Areas for two reasons. One was to see if anything had happened that might have explained the sudden silence for Madden and de Castro. The other was to warn them of the silence. I was positive that it meant nothing good for me, but the chances were it also meant nothing good for Louisiana. We would have to be extra-vigilant.

A phone call from the bar area was the only warning I received that Madden had finally made an appearance. I stood to greet him when he came to my door. His eyes showed surprise to see me, but he did not allow the shock to show over the rest of his face. I had no clue why he would be surprised to find me in my office, but he covered it well as he told me, "Eric, I am surprised to find you here without your lovely wife, yet again."

"I am not one so lacking in confidence as to require that she never leave my side," I told him. I ignored the fact that though it would not be due to a lack of confidence, I would want nothing more than for Sookie to constantly be at my side.

"Yes, well, you won't be able to keep others from getting the pleasure of viewing her forever. Or for much longer," he added as if it was an afterthought. I knew that it was not.

"I am not sure I understand your meaning."

"I am sure that my absence did not go unnoticed," he said. No, it was not. It was something that I both rejoiced over while I abhorred it for what it could mean.

"We discussed needing to use Sookie's ability and it appears we must do so even sooner than expected. A situation has arisen and her abilities are needed to try to keep it from becoming any worse. You as her husband would be more than welcome as well. Though with her scent still growing weaker in your bar, she may not want you," he said, and I wanted to punch the smile right off of his face.

"When?" I asked while I pretended to humor the idea.

"Tomorrow night," he answered, as the smile on his face grew larger.

"Not possible. She is ill," I told him, knowing that would not suffice in delaying the inevitable. What I hoped was that it would allow me more time to devise a plan for why she could not be at Fangtasia tomorrow night, or could not listen to any humans for them at all. It was something I would fight for Sookie regardless of her age or appearance. It was not a life I wanted for her. Regrettably, and even more so given the current situation, I had to give them something. As much as I would have enjoyed being obstinate and simply telling them no, that would only fix things for the short term, but made them more difficult for the long term. That was something I absolutely could not have.

What I wanted was to end Madden and de Castro, slowly and painfully. If it meant Sookie's safety, I could have dealt with it being quick and painless. As long as they were finally dead, I would not be concerned with how they got there.

"Feed her your blood and heal her," he said as if it was that simple. Unfortunately, the healing part was.

"She would still need time to recover," I told him. "She is human. That cannot be forgotten."

"So it can be the evening after tomorrow, and we will bring the ones who need to be read here," He was attempting to be reasonable. As much as I did not want to admit it, he was. If that had been the case since the takeover, it might have been something that I could have worked with, but Madden's true colors had bled through. Though I may not have known what his goal was with the newfound and rational behavior, I did know that it was not something he suddenly was doing because he had grown a conscience.

The difficulty with him attempting to appear more reasonable was that it made me appear less than reasonable.

"She will remain back here with me and we will be undisturbed the entire evening."

"I will have them here an hour after sundown with the questions we need asked, and it should not take very long for her to gather the information. I will return an hour before sunrise to collect them and the answers," Again, he was attempting to sound reasonable. It made me want to stake him even more.

"You will not be staying?" I asked him.

"No. I have duties in other Areas of the state to oversee. I assumed that you could handle your wife and her abilities."

It was a good thing Sookie was not here, well, adult Sookie anyway. She would not take idea that I could 'handle' her very well. Fuck, I did not like Madden's word of choice! When I took in the look on his face, I could see that my reaction, or at least his hope of my reaction, was the reason for his statement.

I did not give him the satisfaction.

"I will meet with you when you return to discuss whatever Sookie found."

"Yes, and with hope, she will be feeling well enough to meet with us as well."

That would not be happening. I would have done everything I could to ensure that it did not happen if Sookie was her actual, adult self. There was no way in hell that Sookie would be there when Madden was. I was going to do everything I could to ensure that.

Thankfully, Madden did not stay much longer after our meeting. That gave me enough time to contact those whom I would need to work with to make sure Madden and Sookie were nowhere near each other in two nights' time. I would be relying on trusted vampires to track Victor's movements throughout the state.

 **Hello dear readers. I do hope that you have had a good week and that you enjoyed Jason and meeting his sister. Many thanks to MsBuffy and her editing skills and her patience!**

 **Unfortunately, I again could not send PM's to respond to** **reviews this week. I'm not sure why FF has had a problem with my computer since I updated the OS but it is a guess to what will work each time I try. I appreciate all the input. Thanks so much!**


	18. Chapter 17

I awoke from my day rest the following evening hearing Sookie, which was usually an enjoyable thing, however, instead of hearing happy noises, she was yelling and sounded very upset. That was most certainly not enjoyable, though it did offer a distraction to the negative thoughts I was having about what would be happening come the next evening.

I had returned last night to find everyone asleep. Jason had fallen asleep in front of the television while the females in the house were asleep in their respective bedrooms. Pam had been out, probably to order more pink, but returned before sunrise. Everything was as it should have been, given the situation.

I did not know what happened during the day to produce the sounds I was hearing from Sookie, but I was on my way to find out.

I followed the noises that she was producing into the kitchen. Sookie was screaming unintelligible words at Amelia while Jason was looked at Amelia indignantly. Pam was at my side when Amelia said, "You're not helping, Jason."

"I just don't see why she gotta eat 'em is all. Vegetables are gross," Jason said and gave a disgusted shake of his head. That was when I understood that one of the words Sookie was shouting, and not correctly pronouncing, was 'vegetables.' I used my deductive skills to determine that the other word was 'no.'

When Sookie noticed that I was in the kitchen, she attempted to compose herself. It was difficult as her little body was shaking with her cries. She calmed down enough so that I could grasp the general concept of her distress. She wanted to know why she still had to eat her vegetables if her brother did not.

"Jason can make all the stupid decisions about himself he wants," Amelia said in response. Neither Stackhouse looked as if they appreciated that answer. The groans they both uttered at her words showed just how much they did not appreciate her statement.

Amelia then came over to me and, possibly after mustering all the courage she had, tapped my shoulder, and said, "Tag, you're it," before she walked out of the kitchen. I could only assume that her words meant I was now in charge of getting Sookie to eat her vegetables. The matching faces on the Stackhouses suggested it would not be as easy as I thought to make five-year-old Sookie eat vegetables.

I followed Amelia and quickly asked her if a night of vegetables could be skipped. She looked at me as if I was insane. "If you skip one night, why not skip the next, and then the next?" she asked.

"I would explain that it was only for one night."

"You're dealing with a five-year-old, and, well, Jason. Not the most rational of creatures."

"I do not care if Jason eats his vegetables, but Sookie must."

"So make sure she does," Amelia told me as she muttered that all she needed was five minutes. She then sat on the couch and closed her eyes. I started to return to the kitchen, but Amelia said, "She's been grumpy like this all day. She did not get enough sleep last night, and she refused to nap with her brother here. She's exhausted."

"Her screaming would suggest otherwise."

Amelia gave a burst of a laugh at that. "Yes, but her screaming is a symptom of her exhaustion, and it also exhausts us. It's a vicious cycle."

A small bang came from the kitchen and Amelia said, "You better get back in there."

I quickly returned to the kitchen to discover that there was a fork on the floor. Seeing that Sookie had both her fork and spoon still on her plate, it was seemingly Jason who had been the one that dropped his fork. I ignored the older Stackhouse, sat down on the chair beside Sookie, and gave her my attention.

"Sookie, you have to eat your vegetables."

"No," she said, and then she looked away from me. I looked at Jason, he shrugged his shoulders, and I knew that he would not be of any assistance. Pam had tried, but to no avail.

"Sookie, eating you vegetables is just one of those things you have to do. It is like your job," I told her as I recalled a conversation we had had regarding my job and my grumpy bosses.

"You want to grow big and strong, correct?" I asked her.

"No!" she yelled, dumping her whole plate on the floor. She looked at the mess she had made before she looked back at me, and then ran out of the kitchen, slamming her door when she got to her room.

"You have to go after her," Amelia told me.

"It would seem she does not want company at the moment."

"Eric, you can't just let her stew in her room. You have to go after her and talk to her. She can't act this way and she needs to know that. She also needs to know that you aren't angry with her."

I was still uncertain there was logic to Amelia's words, but when Jason took my side and said that Sookie should just be left alone, I began to understand the rationality behind her words. Running away was a behavior I had hoped I would never see again from Sookie, regardless of her form. Unfortunately, it was a behavior that I was more than accustomed to and I just allowed her leave in the past.

Perhaps it was time for that to change.

I ignored the two supposed adults in the room while they argued over what they thought was best for Sookie and went up to her room. At first I was going to just open the door, but instead I decided to knock.

"What?" Sookie said from the other side, but her voice was not as harsh as it could have been with that simple term.

"It is Eric. May I come in?" I was not quite certain what I planned to do if she had answered no. All I knew was that there was no way that I would not be entering that room.

Fortunately Sookie answered, "Yes," although it was a very weak yes that came after a long pause. I used it to enter the room though. Sookie was on her bed with a stuffed toy, most likely from Pam, in her hands. She was not playing with it as much as she was simply holding it in her lap. It did not escape me that she was also holding the pillow she had brought along with from her house because she liked the way it smelled.

She looked at me with a bit of trepidation. I imagined that she might have concerns on the way I might react to what had happened downstairs in my kitchen. I would stay in control of me, and the situation. As much as it would have been simpler to just give in to her in the situation, Amelia was correct that it might set a bad precedent.

"I don't like vegetables," she muttered, but again, it was not with anywhere near the force that she had screamed it downstairs.

"You ate some the other night," I told her as I sat down on the bed next to her.

"The green ones are okay," she replied in a small voice. "But I ate all of them and we didn't have any more."

"We will get you more of the vegetables you do like," I would have to make certain Sookie had the food she needed. I also had to make certain that she understood she could not do what she had done in the kitchen when faced with things she simply did not like. She could not throw tantrums.

"You know that yelling at Amelia in that way, yelling at anyone that way, is something that you have to try not to do."

"But I was angry!" she said, and I heard the anger start to build once more in her voice.

"It is all right to be angry," I told her. "But when you are angry, you must find a way to tell someone in a way that you are not yelling or screaming. If everyone is angry, then no one will be able to fix the problem."

"But Amelia really wanted me to eat the vegetables but I didn't like them. "

"She knows I like broccoli and green beans."

"But did she know that you did not like corn?" I asked, recalling the yellow vegetable I saw on Sookie's plate. Sookie had no response for that. "Even if she knew, if it was the only vegetable we had, could you have tried a mouthful or two?"

"I could have, but it would have been icky," she told me as she stuck out her tongue.

"Still, it could have been a compromise of sorts. Amelia would have seen that you were willing to try it, but when she saw that you did not like it, she may not have asked you to eat it all."

Sookie looked down when I said that. "She did try to put a lot of butter on to make them yummy."

"That is something we can all do, right? We can all try things," I was determined to try a few things with Sookie when she returned to her adult form.

"Yes," she said and she nodded her head. "I 'spose so." She suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and said, "I'm sorry I threw the plate," into it.

"It is not all right that you threw it, but I do forgive you."

"I need to use my words," she said and she nodded her head as if she was agreeing with herself. It is always a good thing if one agrees with oneself.

"Everyone needs to use their words," I amended.

I then had to bring up something I had tried to deny would actually occur, but I simply could not any longer. "Tomorrow night, would it will be all right if you came to work with me?" I asked, trying to keep my disgust at the thought out of my voice. I hated the fact that I was bringing her, in this form, to Fangtasia. I despised the fact that I was doing so for her to read the minds of some humans. I detested the feeling that I was using her for her abilities; something I had sworn I would never do.

I had vowed to do all I could to keep her safe. The population in Fangtasia tomorrow night would only be vampires I trusted. The few humans that would be in attendance would be glamoured to reduce the number of thoughts so that Sookie would not be bombarded. I had planned everything I could to ensure that Sookie would be safe and not overwhelmed.

Yet, I still loathed that it had to be done at all.

The look of excitement on her face did not match my feelings on the idea. "I get to be with you the whole night!" she exclaimed.

"The whole night," I confirmed. There was no way in hell I would leave her.

"I think it's more than all right!"

"Would it still be all right if we played a game with some people and their inside voices?"

She looked at me before she asked, "A game?"

Then I hated myself even more than I already did.

"Yes, a game to hear what those people are thinking."

"You won't get mad at me for listening to them?"

"I will not get mad. I think your power is a great one to have. There will be nothing for me to be mad about. You would be helping me with this game," I told her.

"As long as you won't get mad," she said.

"I will not get mad," I reiterated to her. She then agreed to come to work with me the following evening. She seemed excited at the notion; that was not an emotion I was feeling about it.

"Will you come back downstairs with me?" I was surprised when she told me that she just wanted to go to bed. Amelia must have been correct about Sookie being exhausted. "Do you think anyone should get an apology tonight?"

Sookie looked down at my question, but grudgingly admitted that she needed to apologize to Amelia. She looked up after I told her I would help her to bed afterward. After she and Amelia had a short conversation, I took her back upstairs and made sure she had brushed her teeth, washed her face, had a cup of water by her bed, and was comfortable in her pajamas under the covers. I started to tell her a story, a tale of one of my adventures before I was turned. It took only two minutes, and then she was asleep.

I went downstairs to inform Amelia of the change in plans for tomorrow night. She would take Sookie to Fangtasia before sundown with Tray and members of his Pack. I wanted her there before nightfall. I would return home with her as soon as we learned all of the information. Pam and Thalia would stay to discuss any findings with Victor and I would await his call here. With Sookie. She would be nowhere near Victor the entire night. My vampires across the state would assist me in ensuring that.

"I could help with some spells," she said after I explained what would be happening.

"Anything that you think would help." She looked surprised at my answer. I realized then that my general distaste of the young witch was probably something that I had not hidden well. "Thank you for your assistance," I told her, and I might have even managed to make it sound as if I meant it. I did, in a way. Amelia had never seemed too fond of me and seemed to share her disdain with Sookie. That was not something that I could ever appreciate, but her help during the day had been.

"I'm glad I could," she said, and then she told me she wanted to take a quick shower before Pam and I left. It seemed that we both were hesitant to leave the two Stackhouses alone with each other. I had a brand new respect for Sookie's grandmother.

The elder Stackhouse was once again watching my television. I thought that it had more use since he had arrived than it had in the two years that I had lived in this particular house. Pam met me in the living room and we were about to take our leave for Fangtasia when I saw a shadow move across the window as someone moved toward the front door.

I grabbed Stackhouse, told him to take Amelia, and wait upstairs with Sookie. With any luck, Amelia had some spell that could protect them if need be, but I was not letting anyone up those stairs. Pam and I took positions on either side of the door. We looked at each other when, instead of the door bursting down, we heard a faint knock. Opposing forces rarely knock…

I motioned to Pam while I took a step toward the door. She moved with me and took position at my back. I opened the door and heard, "I apologize for not being able to call first," while Cataliades entered my house.

"Were you followed?" I asked when I looked outside past him. I closed the door once he had crossed the threshold, and was ensured that no one else was in the immediate area.

"No. As soon as I lost my tail, I headed here, carefully," he added before he sat down on my couch. "Any chance of getting some water?"

Pam left the room and quickly returned with a glass of water for the part-demon who had started to tell me his tale. I knew that he had been on the run from de Castro and his men, but I had not known that Cataliades had not been stopped able to rest during the chase.

"I would have helped had I known it had been that bad." He waved his arm at me and told me that I had my own set of hoops I had been attempting to jump through.

"I appreciate the thought, Eric, but that would have only resulted in more trouble for the both of us. We both have had enough to deal with on our own."

"But you are here now."

"When it comes to family, there is no 'on your own'." I saw the look in his eyes, and it was one that brought me great comfort. It was a look that I could comprehend; it was a look that said he would defend anyone he thought of as his. For the information the person in front of me could offer, I was more than pleased that he considered Sookie his.

"Have you been able to uncover any further information?" I would not have been surprised if he answered in the negative. Angry at the situation, but not surprised after what the demon had been through himself.

He gave me a smile, which had me hopeful that he had found something, or at least had a starting point. "What do you know about vengeance demons?"

 **Could it be? Could we finally be getting answers, at least some answers? Quite possibly. I do hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Many thanks to MsBuffy for her help with it!**

 **I was able to upload a few more chapters before FF decided no to cooperate. I do apologize for not being able to respond to reviews as well. Hopefully, I will be able to this chapter! I appreciate all the feedback!**


	19. Chapter 18

_Vengeance_. Vengeance was something I understood. My mind clung to that. In my mind, lists of who might have possibly done such a thing for vengeance began to form. I could only devise a short list for those who could have perhaps sought vengeance upon Sookie. The list of those seeking vengeance upon me was the complete opposite; it was seemingly never-ending. I hated the thought that I was at fault; that Sookie's curse was a way to affect me.

Pam asked questions about the actual demon that would fall under the category of a vengeance demon. Once I heard her questions, my focus shifted to that specific area as well. I could hunt a demon. _I could kill a demon._ I could do whatever needed to be done to exact a settling of scores on this vengeance demon.

That was until I heard what a vengeance demon actually was. I then lost focus about what I would do and whom I would kill. Seeking vengeance on me seemed counterproductive.

The type of demon that supposedly cursed Sookie was not necessarily one that someone would send to exact revenge. Instead, the demon hunts people who may be looking to seek retribution on another, even without realizing what they are doing. That was the demon's power; _it instinctively knew when someone was mistreated and victimized._

Had Sookie been so desperate for revenge that this demon sensed it? If she was, why was it only she who was affected by it? If she were seeking vengeance, would it not make sense to have others be affected rather than her? Even with the answers that Cataliades provided, I found myself with additional questions.

"You are sure it is this type of demon?" I asked him.

He nodded without hesitation, "The different subspecies of demons all have a tell, a certain magical signature. Other demons can detect it. During times of fighting among the subspecies, it was for protection, but with less fighting breaking out, it is merely one way of sensing another. The signature of a vengeance demon was the only recent one that I detected around Merlotte's."

I took the information I learned when he used the term 'recent' and filed it away for later. I was unaware of any demons passing through the area, but if they caused this much trouble, I would have to learn all I could and be even more vigilant.

"If the demon approached Sookie in order to exact revenge for her, why does it appear that Sookie was the only one affected by it?" I asked the lawyer. He then explained that the demon could not simply create any curse it desired. It needed a wish from the seeker. In turn, the demon used the wish to create the curse.

"Of course, it is up to the interpretation of the demon to decide how to grant the wish."

Suddenly, I realized I might have just discovered the origin of the phrase, 'Be careful what you wish for.'

If that was what happened to Sookie, and I trusted what Cataliades had told me, I was left to wonder just what Sookie's wish had been. Whatever it was had left her a child and the rest of us seemingly unaffected. Had she wished something against me and it backfired, or had it been a general wish that the demon interpreted whatever the fuck way it wanted?

Overall, I cared deeply for what Sookie could have possibly wished to cause these repercussions. For the time being, all I needed to know was how the curse could be broken. Once the curse was broken, my focus could then shift to why in the world she had ever wished it.

"If the curse was placed on Sookie by a vengeance demon, how would I break the curse?"

"A vengeance demon would have a charm, a pendant of some kind. They are usually in the form of necklaces. In order to release the magic from the demon, the charm would have to be broken."

"Break the charm and break the curse?" I repeated to ensure I understood the directions clearly.

"That should accomplish the task. To break the charm of a vengeance demon, it strips them of their magic. Vengeance demons are not born as demons; most start life as human. They are given their magic when they are in need of getting revenge on another."

I found that more than interesting. It was not something I had previously known. I had wrongly assumed that all demons were born as such, the thought of some of them being created through magic much the same as vampires was a fascinating concept.

Unfortunately, I already had too many thought-provoking concepts running through my head. I found myself with no time to consider it presently.

"Would removing the magic from the demon kill it?" Pam asked. That was my child. She worked to ensure that something that caused pain, wronged her, or anyone she considered 'hers' would never do so again. That was only one of the many things I taught her. Once was an experience you learned from; if it happened twice, then the lesson was obviously not learned. In our world, you are fortunate to survive something that comes at you once; something that you allow yourself to be exposed to a second time? That mistake is yours.

"No, it would not kill the demon. The being would then continue its life in the form in which it started, usually human. They would return to their mortal existence and the aging process would continue exactly where it left off." That drastic change in one's life would be quite the revenge, and I knew by the look on my child's face, her focus in this situation was precisely that. I would settle for the curse being broken. Anything extra was a bonus.

"How does one track this specific demon?"

He released a sigh that told me he expected I might not appreciate his response. He was correct, "That will be the tricky part. Demons are able to cross dimensions. There will be no way of even knowing if the demon we wanted was still in this realm, on this plane."

"I would have to rely on others. I cannot travel in that manner," I said and it was the unfortunate truth. I had no power to travel to different realms. That was not part of the intrinsic magic of vampires.

" _But I can,_ " Cataliades said as a smile began breaking out on his face. I saw the first trace of good information.

"I will not ask you to do that," I said. He was already in danger, having his every near move tracked. The truth was I would ask him to do that. Hell, if it were my only option, I would have forced him. My fear was that in doing so, I would lose my only source of information and his search might bring more danger to Sookie. Those were the only two reasons I hesitated on Cataliades going on an inter-realm goose chase.

"You would not be asking me," Cataliades said with great emotion contained in his voice. "Her grandfather was my best friend. I promised him I would take care of his family. _I'm her sponsor!_ " he said, as his voice rose.

I glanced up the stairs to where Amelia, Jason, and a sleeping Sookie were. I prayed to my Gods that Sookie was still asleep and I hoped Jason did not hear what Desmond had said. We could not afford any time for Jason to ask questions about his family. He took the news about his sister well, surprisingly well. I was not certain if Jason was more adaptable than I gave him credit for, or if there was another reason he appeared to be handling the situation well.

Maybe that was just what we needed! His family, parts of it at least, had the capability to jump to different realms and could try to track this demon. "Niall," I simply said, as I knew that Cataliades would understand my unasked question.

"I have not heard back from him."

"It would seem that he would want to be informed of a situation such as this," I said.

"When it suits him," Desmond responded and that was a good enough summary.

"If the demon was still in this realm, on this plane?"

"You know a shifter and have a local Pack. I would use them to track the demon. There is a chance it may no longer be in the area, but they do tend to stay around… to observe the repercussions…"

It seemed as if another conversation between Merlotte and I was likely. Now the two of us would have to determine if our mutual affection for Sookie might enable us to work together in order to save her. I could put our differences aside, I would not like it, but for Sookie I would do it. That was what I repeated to myself as I reminded myself to call Merlotte when I got to Fangtasia. If I waited until the following evening, I could not have been certain that there would be time to make the call.

Desmond gave me a way to contact his niece, Diantha, while he searched for the demon. "She will be able to contact me," he told me as he gave me the information.

After I spoke with Cataliades, I should have gone straight to Fangtasia. I had a great deal of work to do as Sheriff awaiting me and I needed to ensure that everything was in place for the next evening. Rather than going toward my front door to make my way to the club, I found myself walking upstairs. I stopped at the door to Sookie's room. Her steady breathing and heart rate informed me that she was still asleep. I gently opened the door and carefully approached the bed, kneeling by her head. I gently pushed some of her hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear. It was slightly stuck to her face, which was somewhat damp due to the tiny increase in her temperature as she burrowed under the covers.

That was something else that had not changed with the curse. Sookie was still very much a blanket thief. I was lucky I had no need for blankets because she often left none for me. If ever I was to be beside her in her sleep again, that was something that I would have no complaint of, ever.

I stared down at her little face and considered the amount of time I had known her, from the time when she had walked into my bar hoping to find out information to exonerate her brother. It had not been too long since then, yet it had been long enough for me have feelings that I had not had in centuries. It had been long enough for me to fall in love with her.

It had also been long enough for me to hurt her. However unintentional it might have been, it had been long enough for me to make some unsuitable decisions. I had made them completely on my own, so certain that I had known what was best, but as the small being I watched as she slept showed me, one person could not make the decisions that affects more than them. She was a child now. Decisions should have been easy, in theory.

As Jason would have said, not so much.

The past was something I could not change. If I could, I wished I could change so much over my thousand years. There would also be things in my life that I would never change. The past I could do nothing about, but the future? That was something with which I could work. I have been on this planet for a thousand years. If I had been unable to adapt, I would never have survived this long. I now had another reason.

Anger had nearly overwhelmed me during most of what Cataliades said. It would have been too easy for me to be angry with the demon, and there was anger focused toward it, of course. I could have been angry at Sookie for making a potentially naïve mistake, for making a wish in a magical world, but I held no anger toward Sookie, not one drop.

No, most of the anger I held I aimed at me. I had no external outlet. I could have gone to Sookie. I should have gone and discussed everything with her. I could claim that when I had tried to do so in the past, it always seemed as if she was not willing to meet halfway.

 _That did not mean I should have stopped trying._

I placed a kiss to Sookie's forehead before taking my leave of her room and my house. I planned to fly to Fangtasia and I hoped that would take away a little of my anger. I had debated with myself if I should take shelter at Fangtasia tonight, to be closer to Sookie as soon as I rose. The truth was I wanted to be near her in case she awoke before sunrise. Though I could not be awake with her during the day, I still wanted to be there with her, in the only way I could.

Once I arrived at Fangtasia, I was happy to see that Thalia had been able to accomplish most of the Area 5 business that needed completed tonight. When I thanked her, she shrugged and said, "I figured you had other things to do."

She was right. I had many phone calls to make. I grudgingly called Madden to make certain that his plans had not changed and he confirmed everything remained as we originally discussed. I had killed Madden twenty-two times in my head during the two-minute discussion. My favorite way I caused his demise was simply crushing his head between my hands. I took a few minutes to make sure the bar was running properly; I owed Thalia and when it was safe, she would have two weeks off from her requirements at Fangtasia. Next were the phone calls I had to place to my contacts around the state. They were all still willing to help track Madden's movements through the state tomorrow night. The only time he would get close to Fangtasia while Sookie was present was when he dropped off those he wanted her to read.

Those were the easy phone calls.

I then had to place the call to Merlotte. By all of the accounts I had heard, he had stayed out of sight since the night he came to my bar in search of Sookie. He had apparently played his role well. That was something that gave me hope that we could work together again. I would have been able to track the demon if I needed. I was hesitant to leave Sookie for any additional time I would have to be away. Asking one of Tray's pack might have been an option, but I wanted to be certain that we had them here on the chance that things with Madden went south, more so than they were already. No, Merlotte was the best one for this. He had the scent; I just hoped that his tracking skills were decent.

The phone rang twice before he answered. By the sound of his voice, he had not realized who had called him. When I announced myself, his tone changed considerably. I could not say I blamed him for the caution that entered his tone once he found who it was that was calling. The caution soon gave way to concern. I spent the next two minutes of the conversation assuring the shifter that Sookie was still unhurt, in the grand scheme of things. Dr. Ludwig had assured me of that after she had examined Sookie. She had also mentioned that she wanted to examine her again in six months if the curse had not been broken. She wanted to see if Sookie was aging. The doctor seemed to think that Sookie would simply develop as a typical human if the curse could not be broken. I did not want to think about what would happen if she did not and remained as she was.

It was when I told him that I had called to ask for his assistance that the questions regarding Sookie ceased. In fact, the entire conversation ceased. Merlotte could have easily tried to hold it against me that I had turned to him for help. He did not and instead, asked with what I needed his assistance. He could have asked a tad nicer, but he also could have asked a tad less sarcastically. It was something that I could have brought to his attention, but I refrained.

 _Progress._

"You told me that the night the curse was placed on Sookie, she was speaking with a woman," I realized my miscalculation as soon as I said the word 'curse.' I had not used that word during our previous conversation. It made the topic of introducing the plan of Sam tracking the demon easier to raise.

I did have to reiterate that Sookie was not actually harmed during the curse. I also had to explain to Sam that he could not simply kill the demon if he was successful in finding it; I needed it alive until that charm was destroyed.

"If you need assistance for this task, you do not need to hesitate to ask for it," I told him.

"I can do it," he said, sounding indignant. I knew that he wanted to do this for Sookie. I also knew that he would ask for help if he truly needed it because of her. That was something, possibly the only thing we had in common.

"Will you call with updates?" I asked.

"Will you do the same?" I was not sure if the word 'truce' was something that could be used to explain the situation between Sam and me.

"If something was to happen with Sookie, I would inform you," I conceded.

My words seemed to surprise him, "Then I will call you nightly." It was my turn to be shocked. I thanked him and hung up the phone. I had laid a huge responsibility upon him and I was relying upon him. I was left hoping it was not too large.

After one last check to ensure everything here was physically in place, I left to return to my house. All was quiet, with the exception of Pam's soft footsteps as she moved from Amelia's room to her own. My own feet carried me to Sookie's room and I looked in on her as she continued her slumber. I was not certain if she had slept straight through the evening or if she had awakened. I once again placed a kiss to her cheek. I also told her, "I love you."

It was something I wanted her to know and I wanted her to feel. I would make certain she knew that after the curse was broken, but I would not wait until then to instill the idea in her. I then went to my own rest, praying to Sookie's God that he would protect her the next evening.

 **Well, we got some answers on what happened to Sookie, none of which Eric enjoyed hearing. At least they have a starting point now. I hope you enjoyed.**

 **Many, many thanks to MsBuffy for all her help on this one.**

 **Some of the info on a vengeance demon, as well as the character, is from BtVS. Credit to Joss Whedon on that one.**

 **Just a reminder - I do apologize for the slow updates over here. FF has not played nice since I updated my OS and whether I can upload, update, or respond to reviews has been hit or miss. I will continue to update this one here when FF allows me as I will not leave it unfinished. This story is in fact completed, and my next one started, over at WP. I am there under the same name. If you head over there to finish this one, I do hope you enjoy.**


	20. Chapter 19

I was unmindful for not having factored in the elder Stackhouse, who now appeared more mature than his much physically younger sister, in my plans for the evening. I was under the impression that Jason would be content enough to simply sit on my couch, watch my TV, and complain I did not have anything 'yummy' to eat, as all of the food I had purchased was healthy for ensuring Sookie wellbeing. I had severely underestimated Jason's investment in his sister.

On the other hand, perhaps it was his need to not be excluded from anything.

I had expected to find him still in my house when I rose that evening. Color me surprised when I not only found no Jason Stackhouse, but I also found a note from Amelia that explained he had refused to stay behind. I wondered how much Sookie might actually miss her brother should he suddenly vanish.

I then chastised myself for even considering those thoughts. I would never do such a thing to her, but I would also never allow her brother's actions to inhibit her safety.

I needed to determine what I would do with him throughout the time we would have to be at Fangtasia, actions that would neither upset nor endanger Sookie, in either of her forms.

I made my way toward Fangtasia minutes after I rose. I did not want to Sookie to be there too long after nightfall without me. Thalia had spent the night day at the club and though she did not know why, she knew no one was to enter my office that night. They were not even supposed to enter the hallway that led to the back of the club. That was just one of the attributes I appreciated about Thalia. She took orders well and was aware of the time to ask or not any questions. Those were both vital qualities in our world.

I had trusted that Amelia would keep both Sookie and herself in the back of the club to the extent that I had not explained anything to Thalia to ensure that happened. Add in the wildcard of Sookie's brother, whom I was surprised was not at the bar, and the front of the club still looked the way it should to welcome Madden.

I nodded at Thalia in gratitude, and then I made a motion that I would return to discuss things, but I needed to make certain that the presence of Jason had not ruined any of my plans. As I moved to my office, I could hear Jason howling in despair. I quickly moved to my office door and pulled it open. I did not expect what I found.

Jason was still howling, but had collapsed and was crying into the floor. That I had expected with the noise I had heard. What I did not expect was to see Sookie gleefully dancing around her brother, exclaiming that she had won; nor did I expect to see Amelia with a camera documenting the event. I had just enough time to observe the board game sitting on the floor before Sookie jumped at me and said, "I won! I won, Eric! I beated Jason!"

I caught her as Jason picked his head up off the ground. "She did. She did beated me," he said despondently. I had little hope that Jason knew the proper term was simply 'beat.' It was an endearing coming from Sookie, but to hear it come from Jason, that was certainly not the case. "Damn melted chocolate guy," Jason said, at which Sookie admonished her brother for using a naughty word.

"What have you been playing?" I asked. I was grateful to see the board game on the floor. If I had not, I might have thought that Sookie 'beated' Jason physically, especially when I saw him on the ground as he was. I also wanted to know which game had a melted chocolate man that Jason had cursed.

Sookie, in her excitement, screamed, "Candy Land!" into my ear. The sight of the excitement on her face was enough for me to forget that I could not hear out of that ear for a few seconds. "Will you play with me, Eric?" Sookie said as she started to squirm to be put down.

"I cannot right now," I told her, but I explained to her that I would play with her later in the evening. I wanted to try to keep her distracted while she was listening in on whomever it was Madden had brought. I had planned to use coloring. It was a favorite pastime of hers and she enjoyed it. It was easy enough to change the activity to the board game.

However, I was determined to end up not on the floor like Stackhouse, no matter the outcome.

The promise to play with her later was enough to keep the excitement from falling off her face. She immediately picked up the characters from the game and tried to explain the rules. All I understood in all her excitement was that there were cards involved and, apparently, these cards determined how the characters moved.

She picked the red character for me, red for blood. At least that suggested she still accepted the role that liquid played in my existence.

After I smiled, nodded, and absorbed everything she had to tell me, I repeated that I would play with her later. I suggested another game with Jason in the meantime. The younger Stackhouse looked thrilled at my suggestion. The older one looked quite the opposite of thrilled, but my suggestion suited two purposes _._ It would keep Sookie busy and I hoped it would keep Jason in my office and out of the bar area.

When the two were engrossed in a game, I approached Amelia and asked her if she had been able to accomplish anything when she spoke to her mentor. Amelia had contacted her mentor, Octavia, at my behest, to try to determine if there was a way of limiting the reach of Sookie's telepathy. Even with the precaution of having ensured the humans in the club were glamoured, I did not want her mind exposed to that many minds, regardless of whether their thoughts were less than usual or drifted more toward the impure.

The spell Octavia had believed would be most helpful was one that Amelia could adjust. I had hoped to keep Sookie in my office and the humans in Pam's, which was closer to my office than the bar. My plan was to have Amelia attempt to block Sookie away from the minds in the bar area completely.

"I have already recited the incantation. She should not be able to hear anyone's mind unless they are within the radius of the offices."

"You are certain?" I asked her.

The young witch nodded. "I knew the spell. It is usually performed for listening devices. Octavia explained to me how to adjust it for our needs. It will work."

Pam was in her office, but I was the only other vampire Sookie should have been able to sense if the incantation worked. I crouched down next to Sookie who had just shown exhilaration at the card she had drawn. I took in Jason's face and it seemed like Sookie was close to being a repeat winner.

"Sookie," I said as she stuck her tongue out at her brother. I would have corrected her behavior, but that would have been difficult to do seeing as Jason himself returned her gesture. It left both Amelia and me shaking our heads.

"Yes, Eric?" Sookie said as Jason drew his card. This one did not excite her.

"Do you remember how you said that my head was like a hole when you tried to listen to it?" I received a nod of her head as my answer. "Do you remember the other game we are going to play tonight?" I asked her though I hated having to do it, but I received another nod in response. "Will you try to listen now? How many holes can you find?"

I knew that Thalia and Felicia were currently in the bar. If Sookie could not detect them, but could only sense Pam and me, then I would know that Amelia's spell had worked. If she could find other holes, I might have had to suspend the entire mission.

Sookie closed her eyes and scrunched up her little face. I had no idea if I should have felt relief when she said that there were only two holes. On the one hand, that meant the spell had worked and the protections I had in place for Sookie were working in every way possible. On the other, the fact that they were working so well meant that I lost my justifiable reason as to why I was even doing this.

Sookie looked at my face after she told me she could only sense the two holes. "I'm helpin' you, right?" she asked. She sounded uncertain. I nodded. "With your bosses?" Sookie must have always been perceptive and that was just one of the many things I most enjoyed about her, though sadly it was also one of those things I still found objectionable. "You don't want me to help," she said glumly.

"I would not like it if you were hurt," I corrected her. I truly believed I was doing all I could to protect her, not for that night, but in all ways.

"I don't want you getting' hurt neither," she said while she came over to give me a hug. "This is something I can do and how I can help. You and me can work together to keep everybody safe."

I wrapped my arms around her tinier than usual frame. This was something I had begun to realize, but to have heard it in her little voice, to have seen the logic of it all in her sweet little face, I felt like a fool for not having seen it until that moment.

"Together," I repeated while I continued holding her in my arms.

"Yep! Together," she repeated as well before she squeezed my neck, and then let go.

Was it really so simple? It was a simple concept, at least in theory. The actual presentation was what made it so complicated, but was it really? Or was it just that I was under the mistaken belief that I knew best, therefore, no other input was required? was Again, I would look forward to further exploration of this topic once Sookie returned to her adult form, no matter how long that process might take.

"I will be return and we will play the game," I told her. "We will listen to the inside voices if you are still willing," I added after hesitating for a moment.

"Okay, Eric! We can do both," she said just as she informed her brother that she was going to beat him again. I then made certain that Jason knew he was to stay in my office, or in Pam's, for the entirety of the evening. He surprised me when he quickly agreed by informing me that he was there to protect his sister.

The sister in question and her earlier words echoed through my mind while I left my office and made my way to the bar. Madden was due to arrive shortly, and I wanted him left with no question of any excuse to try entering the back offices.

I knew we were in danger the moment Madden entered the bar. To be more accurate, when I laid my eyes upon the two humans that accompanied him into the bar was when my anxiety emerged although I remained stoic. These were humans whom I had seen before, with whom I had dealt before. They were humans employed by Desmond Cataliades.

I no longer doubted that this was nothing more than a mere coincidence. I was just uncertain what it could mean.

Armed with that realization, I also knew that it was a test of some sort. I did not know if Cataliades and I could be considered friends, but others might, and we could most certainly be considered acquaintances. The two of us most certainly enjoyed a pleasant working relationship. We worked together often as we both had important roles within Sophie-Anne's retinue. It was possible that Madden, and, by extension, de Castro wanted Sookie to read these humans simply due to their connection to the demon attorney, possible, though not likely. What was more likely was that this was some type of a setup.

I was not at all positive of just what they were attempting to set up.

Madden found my gaze almost immediately, and the glint in his eyes was the confirmation I needed to verify that this farce was about more than Sookie listening to these human minds. Any information they knew regarding Cataliades could have been obtained through a simple glamour. I might not have been aware of their end goal, but I knew I needed to tread very carefully, much more so than I had even planned.

I began by moving toward Madden rather than waiting until he came to me. I addressed him by his title of Regent, which was a surprise to us both. I saw a look appear on his face and knew exactly what it meant. Vampire politics are often about whose side presents the best show, and who was the more determined to better play the game. My show of respect, however forced, was a sign that I was willing to play whatever game Madden brought. him. He viewed it as a win.

I would not concur, though I trusted I was not playing right into his hands.

"Northman," he said in acknowledgment before he made a show of looking around. "I had hoped to see your wife. Though it is clear she is…" he said, making a gesture of scenting the air.

"She is in my office," I told him. We agreed upon that previously. Sookie and I would spend the night in my office, undisturbed.

"I must stop in and greet her," he said as he turned and started toward the hallway that led back to our offices.

I was in front of him before he could take another step. "Sookie is still not feeling too well, but she was determined to assist the new monarchy," I told him, forcing the words out of my mouth. "I would not want you exposed to that."

"Unless she has an illness that endangers our kind there is no risk."

Of course, there was no risk. Few diseases existed that humans could pass on to vampires that might offer us danger. Sookie was not even sick; she demonstrated no risk to our species.

"When was the last time you were in close proximity to a sick human?" I asked him. "It is not exactly pleasant."

Madden wrinkled his nose at my words, but I did not know if they would be enough to deter him from insisting upon seeing Sookie. When he did not press the issue, it left me thinking over just what he expected to accomplish tonight. Was it simply a coincidence of his bringing these humans who worked for Cataliades? Was he really just looking for Sookie to listen to their minds, hopeful that they would offer some insight as to the location of the demon or any information they had learned through him?

My agitation grew as Madden looked toward the hallway leading toward the back offices. It did not seem as if he would, but might he insist on seeing Sookie? What could I say if he did? I may not have known what to say, but I knew there was no way he would get any closer to Sookie than where he stood. I would have ended him, consequences be damned! However, the vampire shook his head once and he returned his focus to me.

"These are the two humans we need the telepath to listen to, that is, if she is still able," he added unnecessarily. I was not fully certain exactly what it was that gave him the idea that Sookie was no longer telepathic. I definitely had no appreciation of what he was insinuating. It sounded as though he was questioning if there was something preventing Sookie from using her telepathy, almost as if he had known that something had happened.

I did not hesitate to inform him that Sookie would have no problems using her abilities. "What information are you hoping she will be able to find?"

"We have been trying to locate someone. We believe these two humans have knowledge of the person's location."

"The person for whom Sookie should be listening is?" I asked, but I was positive I already knew.

At my question, Madden smiled, and said, "Let's see just how strong her abilities are," before he turned around and began to make his leave of Fangtasia. That statement proved to me that he had more to his agenda than Sookie discovering information from the minds of the two humans. It also proved, once again, that he was an asshole.

"I will return an hour before sunrise to retrieve the humans and discuss whatever information has been found." Well, at least for tonight, he was an asshole that I would not have to tolerate for the entire evening. That was something.

I stared after him until he left Fangtasia, and then I turned around and moved toward the back of the club. I did not have to look behind me to know that Thalia was there with the two men. I went one direction while she took them in another. I hesitated, took an unnecessary breath, and then I continued into my office where I found Sookie as she celebrated another win over Jason.

"Is it time to listen to the inside voices?" Sookie asked. I told her it was. I hated it. I did not tell her that, but it was clear she recognized the look on my face.

"It'll be okay, Eric," she told me. I hoped that she was correct.

I was to spend the evening in my office with Sookie. Pam would be fielding calls about Madden's location this evening and knew to warn me if the situation called for it. The two of us planned to be in constant communication. Thalia also offered information while she spent the evening in the front of Fangtasia.

Amelia was kind enough to take Jason and move downstairs. I made certain there was a safe area for them, well, for Amelia, downstairs the previous evening while I worked with Sookie. Before I asked her any questions, we started our game.

I picked up a card with one colored square on it as I asked Sookie if she could sense any inside voices yet. I thought the sooner we found the information Madden was seeking, the sooner Sookie could return to the safety of the walls of my house. She again closed her eyes before she told me that she did in response to my question.

"Can you tell me what they are saying?" I asked her. Pam was with them and was prompting as Madden had suggested. I would let her know to stay on that concept, or move to the next one based on what Sookie heard.

"I don't know," she told me while she took her turn to pick up a card. I was angry, not with Sookie, but with the entire situation in which I found myself. I asked her questions, but beyond that, there was no way for me to help her navigate the minds of these individuals.

"You cannot make out what they are thinking?" I asked as I tried to understand what she attempted to explain.

"No. They are thinking a word, a big girl word." I was not sure what a big girl word was. I was about to question her when she said, "It sounds like a kitty."

It took me only a second to understand. "Cataliades?" I asked her. It was already clear that would be where Madden's focus lay, at least to me.

"Yeah. That's it!" she said, reminding me that it was my turn.

"Can you tell me what they are thinking about him?" I asked while I moved my character the designated spaces.

"That he might be coming here, to you!" she said excitedly. "But they don't think they will see him for a long time. It sounds like he is far away. Like on a vacation."

He was far away, but not on a vacation. I had to decide what I would do with the information. I could attempt to keep it from de Castro and Madden, as I did not want them to know anything about Cataliades' location. If they learned that he was in other realms, they would start to question why. That was something they could never uncover.

It would have been a risk to keep it from them as well. From what Sookie said, it sounded as if these humans had been glamoured, but there was no way for me to determine who had done so. Madden and de Castro could have already known everything. Whether or not Sookie heard it, or I shared the information, might have been the test, or the two could have been clueless about the situation and if I told them, I could have given them vital information.

I had a decision to make and it was not an easy one.

 **Well, that could have gone worse. Now, it's just a question of what does Eric tell Madden. Decisions, decisions.**

 **Many, many thanks to MsBuffy with her help on this one.**

 **This is the first time I've been able to upload here at FF in months as you can see. I got this one and the next chapter one up. Just a reminder that this story is complete over on WP and my next one is a good 11 chapters in. I will finish this one here (if anyone is even still reading it) but it will likely be the last complete story I do here - simply because of the upload issues. I hate to keep you guys waiting.**


	21. Chapter 20

In the end I made the decision to sing as if I was the proverbial canary; or to be more accurate have Madden believe that I had divulged all the information to him. I was positive that this was a complete setup. I just was not sure what was being set up.

Sookie and I continued the game, at which I felt Jason's pain with the melted chocolate character. As we played, or if I was being honest, as Sookie beat me, I did ask her questions about the two men on whom she was using her telepathy. As I asked her more questions, I learned that the two men were glamoured. Sookie, as an adult, could determine this with her skills; Sookie, as a child, did not seem to understand what it meant, but when she said their brains felt 'mushy,' I asked more questions and came to that conclusion.

With the knowledge that they were glamoured, I was now certain that this was a test for me as well. Throughout the night, the two men's thoughts never ventured too far from thinking about Cataliades. I even had Pam ask them innocuous questions such as their favorite flavor of ice cream. Even a thought such as that caused their minds to wonder if Cataliades ate ice cream and what might be his favorite flavor.

It was a complete glamour. It would not surprise me if these two humans would no longer be capable of living on their own once they were no longer needed. The more likely outcome of their situation would, unfortunately, be death. I was determined to try to make it otherwise, but I was not sure if I would be able to accomplish that. I did not appreciate the feeling of my hands being tied. I had worked too hard for far too long as a vampire to have such a feeling. I had never wanted to be a king; I had never wanted to surrender my freedom in the way it was necessary in order to be a king.

That was something I had started to reconsider under the rule of de Castro.

Due to the glamour of the humans, Sookie had not been able to pull much more from their minds. I had Pam ask about where they had been kept and what they observed while they were held in an attempt to gather information I might be able to use in what was becoming the inevitable take-down of de Castro and Madden. Every question Pam had asked came back to Sookie hearing the men think about 'the guy with the cat name,' as she put it.

We had completed the game, with Sookie winning as my game piece spent the majority of the time stuck in the mud, or I guess staying in the theme of the game, he was stuck in the melted chocolate. I had stopped asking Sookie questions about the minds of the men five minutes earlier and they had been moved to an area where Sookie could no longer hear them. It should have been quiet in her head, well, with Jason back upstairs she could have heard him, but that at least was a mind with which she was familiar, and one probably not bombarding her with thoughts.

I left Sookie barely awake, but she adamantly refused to sleep on my couch, and chose instead to color with her brother. Before I left the room, I could see that Sookie was drawing a picture of the two of us flying. I could not discern what Jason was attempting to draw. I informed Sookie that I would return in a few minutes and made my way out to the bar to see Thalia to discuss Madden's next visit, when he returned to pick up the two men. Suddenly , Sookie's scent became unexpectedly stronger in the air than it should have been with her safe behind the door in my office. I saw that I was not the only one who noticed as the heads of the beings in the bar who could scent her turned toward the aroma.

It came as no surprise when I found Jason was involved.

He was standing just outside of the women's restroom. He shrugged when he saw me and said, "When you gotta go, you gotta go."

This was likely the one and only time that I wished Sookie had reverted to a time when she needed diapers. According to my sources, Madden was still far enough away, but with the speed of a vampire, he could be there in the blink of a human eye.

"So you thought it fine to allow her go in there alone?" I asked.

He looked at me as if I had suddenly grown two extra heads. "No! Amelia and Pam are in there with her. I'm out here to guard the door."

I was sure the look on my face was a mirror image of the one on his only seconds ago. I knew my child would never place Jason on guard duty in a bar that contained so many vampires. It had to be a title the boy had given himself. I wasted no more time when I felt Sookie becoming distressed in the bathroom.

When I entered, Amelia was chanting something while my child whispered softly to Sookie as if she was trying to comfort her. Sookie was attempting to hold in her tears, but a few managed to escape, trailing down her little face.

I knelt in before her and once she saw me there, her little arms wrapped around my neck. I then started to whisper things into her ear to comfort her while Pam rubbed her back before making her way over to Amelia to see if she could be of assistance to the chanting witch. I hoped her chanting would in some way end whatever was upsetting Sookie. That was something I still needed to clarify.

"What is wrong, Sookie?" I asked her.

"There's a lot," she said into my neck.

"A lot wrong?" I asked, uncertain as to what she could have meant. I had only left her a few minutes ago. What the hell had gone wrong in those few minutes?

"A lot of vampires," she told me while she hugged my neck more tightly.

"While we walked in here, she abruptly her head," Pam started to explain. "Amelia had not extended the spell enough to include the bathroom. When we left your office, she could suddenly hear everyone."

Understanding what had caused Sookie's pain would have made it easy to blame the young witch. The truth of the matter was I could have easily blamed myself. I had not requested the spell be extended to include the bathroom. I never factored in Sookie's human needs, needs that she had more often as a child.

I may have not factored in her human needs, but I had a simple fix in mind to solve our current predicament. I swept Sookie up into my arms, and we were back in my office before she could even ask where we were going! I sat on the couch with Sookie in my lap and began to sing songs to her in my native tongue. It took her close to ten minutes, but she was finally able to calm herself.

"I am sorry," I told her once she began to mimic me in my singing. She happened to attempt my native language better as a child than when she was an adult.

"What are you sorry for?" she asked while her head rose from where she had it resting on my chest.

"That you were distressed in the bathroom."

"That wasn't your fault! You helpeded me feel better!" While that may have been true for her, it did nothing to help me feel any better about the situation. I should have realized Sookie might need the restroom during the evening. That was something that I should have foreseen, a contingency for which I should have planned. I should have made it possible for her to use the restroom without being overwhelmed with all of those human or Supe thoughts.

I did not even want to begin to think of the thoughts she may have heard.

Yet, while I looked down at the little face that looked back up at me, she looked at me with nothing but gratitude. She did not blame me for her distress. She only saw that I was the one who helped her through it. I was the one who blamed myself, whose blame turned into anger, anger that would fester in me. I knew that it had happened in the past. Had that guilt, that anger, had more consequences than I was aware of? Was it really as simple as offering comfort when I could, to be there when she needed me? Was that simply enough?

"Do they want my blood?' Sookie asked in a small voice.

"They will not get close to you," I told her. I attempted to evade the question. The true answer was, yes, the other vampires in Fangtasia that evening would want to drink her blood. That did not make my statement any less true.

As Sookie let out a yawn, I started to tell her a story. It was not a fictional story, but it was also one that would not return any of her memories. I had no idea what effect that might have on her, and I was hesitant to tell her anything that might return any of her memories because of that.

After two stories and with Sookie was just barely awake, I stood to take my leave. There was no other reason to stay. Sookie barely moved her off of my shoulder while I spoke with Pam as we left. "Do not tell him much," I told her. "Tell him that she," I said, motioning toward Sookie, "was not feeling well and I had to take her home, but that I look forward to his phone call."

I was not certain if Pam would be able to say that last portion with a straight face. I also was not positive that Madden would expected her to do so.

I made it out to my car, which I had parked directly outside the back door. Sookie was in the car and carefully strapped into the child's seat Amelia said was necessary for her safety before the door had the opportunity to completely close behind me. I hoped that no one had the opportunity to see her. The area had been checked and vampires were present to ensure I was alone in the back, but one can never be too careful.

The return drive to my house was a silent one with Sookie asleep in the backseat. I did not mind the quiet, as it gave me some time to think and plan exactly what I would tell Madden. In fact, that was where my thoughts should have been; however, they were centered on the tiny sleeping being in the back of my car.

Once home, Sookie remained sound asleep; the car ride had stolen any remaining energy she had trying to stay awake. I carefully put her to bed, changing her into her pajamas. I made sure she looked comfortable, and then I made my way down to my office to await the call I knew was coming. When my phone rang, I answered it quickly; I saw no point in making Madden wait in this situation. I was in no mood to simply make him wait to put on a show. The situation was too fragile at the moment. "I was disappointed to not find you at the bar as we had arranged," he told me. His tone made me rethink my respectful, quick answer of his call.

"I am sure my child explained my reasons for not being there."

"Yes. Although someone should have taught Pam about paying respect to her betters."

I had many statements I could have made to respond to his words, but I was not certain of Pam's specific location at that second. She was not feeling as if she was threatened, but if she was anywhere near Madden, my worry was that could change in an instant. For that reason, I bit my tongue and tasted my own blood because of it, although I will admit I pretended that it was Maddens'.

"You have a great deal of control," he told me and I assumed his words were in reference to the way I did not react to the way he had spoken about my child.

"After a thousand years, that should not surprise you."

"Your propensity for survival does not surprise me, it merely intrigues me." That was one of the things that caused the downfall of Victor Madden. He may have given me credit for being on this planet as long as I have been, but in the end, he underestimated me.

My underestimation of him and de Castro had disastrous consequences, consequences that almost could not be rectified. I would make certain that Madden's underestimation of me would lead to consequences from which Madden and de Castro could not return.

"Are we going to discuss the purpose of this phone call?" I asked. I wanted the conversation over and that could not happen until we started discussing what Sookie had heard, information Madden most likely already had.

He sighed, and then said, "What was it the telepath learned?"

"I would imagine, since the men were glamoured, that you at least already know the topic of the evening."

He was silent for a moment before he asked, "She can determine that?"

"Yes," I stated simply. That was most likely a piece of information he had been looking to ascertain through this exercise. It sounded as if he was not all appreciative of the fact that I had confirmed information he was hoping was false. I did not find it at all enjoyable, giving up information on Sookie, especially to Victor, but it was something that was becoming more known as she and her gift became more renowned. My focus of what to keep hidden needed to shift if I wanted to continue to ensure her safety.

"So what did she conclude about the lawyer? Or is there anything you might care to share?" he asked, rather snidely.

I needed to play this very carefully. I could not hide that I had been in contact with the lawyer as it was becoming quite evident that Madden was at least aware of our contact. I would say nothing that would put any of those I cared for in jeopardy. I would say nothing to put Cataliades in further danger. I would say nothing that would have given Madden any inclination that anything had happened to Sookie.

"You could have just asked me outright if I had had any contact with the lawyer," I told him. I wanted to know how he would respond to that statement.

"You and he were close. We could not expect honesty from you."

"Yet you thought putting me through tests, tests that involve my wife, would be the best way to have me volunteer information?" I realized then what a massive miscalculation they had made. They had planned for my desperation in this situation; their hope was to expose and utilize it.

That was something that would cost them greatly.

There was nothing but silence for nearly a minute. I questioned if he had hung up. The tone in his voice had changed to one of clear anger when he asked, "Well?"

That was as close to a question regarding Cataliades that I would get.

"I knew him when he worked for Sophie-Anne. I had a question for him on a personal matter and spoke with him about that. I knew that our king wanted to speak with him, but if I had been given any indication of how strongly the conversation was wanted, I would have handled speaking with the lawyer in a different manner." That was the truth. I would have been even more careful with my dealings with Cataliades. I reminded myself to continue to refer to him as 'the lawyer' throughout our conversation.

"Do you know where he is currently?" Madden asked, a warning tone clear in his voice. I told him the truth since I did not have to lie. I did not know where exactly Desmond was. His next question was a little more difficult, but I still did not have to lie. "Do you know to where he is traveling?"

Ultimately, I knew that Cataliades would return here, either with or without the demon. Of his travels, however, I had no idea where the trail of the demon might lead him. That was why I could say that I did not lie to Madden once I repeated my previous answer. I would have if I had needed to, but if I could get Madden to trust me, or, what was more likely to have a little less distrust in me, it might have made ending him a little easier.

"If you knew that he had left the area, what did you expect Sookie to discover by reading the humans, the ones you had glamoured, in fact?" I asked, as I was curious about what he would have told me.

He hesitated, which informed me that his answer was one he carefully considered.

Then he lied through his teeth.

"We wanted to ensure that the information we had collected was correct."

I doubted there was any truth in that statement. I might have believed him if he had told me it was all a test of Sookie's abilities. That was something I could have believed, even if it was not the complete truth. Many of my thoughts on Madden were confirmed as there was absolutely no truth to his statement.

I confirmed for him that they were, in fact, employees of Cataliades. I also confirmed that he would be traveling and out of touch for the foreseeable future. These were all things Madden already knew.

He did this to test Sookie's skills. He did this to test what information I would choose to share with him. He did this to try to prove his authority over us as Regent and he would continue to do things in this manner.

He proved that as he said, "I look forward to working closely, very closely, with Ms. Stackhouse in the future," as he hung up the phone.

My phone did not survive the conversation.

The only reason that the rest of my office did was that I did not want to awaken Sookie. In an effort to calm myself, I made my way upstairs and sat by her bed, just staring at her. This was something she might not have appreciated if she knew, but it had been something that I started when I stayed with her after her kidnapping. I had so much anger in me with all that had happened. Watching her achieve peace in her sleep she could not while awake was something in that I took comfort. I knew she had anger; I even knew that some of it had been directed toward me when she thought I did not attempt to rescue her. As she told me in that office, did being with her when I was there, help to diminish the anger? Was that what she needed?

If so, it had to have made my disappearance hurt her that much more.

I sat by her head with my own in my hands until I only had seconds to enter the protection of my bedroom. I was happy that my thoughts could not invade my dreams.

When I woke from my rest, I felt calm. I felt it as it came from Sookie. I felt it all throughout the house. It was something that I was thankful for; it, one night of serenity, was something that we all needed and could appreciate.

I moved to the kitchen where I felt Sookie and the other human inhabitants of the house were. I had never thought I would have had this many humans living in my house at the same time, but the smile on Sookie's face was worth it. Pam had slept at her house the previous evening, but would be traveling here. Unseen circumstances aside, I had not plans of leaving my house that evening.

I was happy and even proud as I walked into the kitchen and heard Sookie as she tried to entice her brother to eat his vegetables. It was to no avail though; the elder Stackhouse was very stubborn about not ingesting anything that was even remotely healthy.

I again found a bottle of blood waiting for me on the table next to Sookie. Fortunately, she had not taken it upon herself to feed the bottle to me since that first evening. She greeted me with excitement, and I, her, but knew that she had to finish her meal before she could leave the table. That was something we had to instill in her.

"Guess what? Guess what?' she said as she bounced around me as soon as she had swallowed her last bite.

"What?" I asked her as my eyes followed as she moved.

"Amelia is gonna take me to an art store tomorrow! She said I could pick whatever I want for my art!"

I did not want my trepidation at this news to ruin Sookie's excitement. I had agreed that she should not be trapped in my house all day. That did not mean I was happy that she would not be trapped in my house, where she was most likely safer, everyday.

"Tell Eric who else is coming with us," Amelia said while she most likely tried to calm me.

"Tray! Tray is coming!" Sookie said as she continued to jump around. "And he's gonna bring three friends." As much as I despised the idea, having a witch and four Weres as bodyguards would offer her much protection.

"I cannot wait to see what you choose!" I told her. I planned to call Tray once Sookie was asleep to ensure the protection was adequate. I tried to put the worry out of my thoughts so I could enjoy my night with Sookie.

I would worry enough once she had gone to sleep.

 **Eric sure has a great deal to worry about. I do hope you have enjoyed this one. Many, many thanks to my friend MsBuffy and her fantasticalness!** **Just a reminder that this story is complete over on WP and my next one is a good 11 chapters in. I will finish this one here (if anyone is even still reading it) but it will likely be the last complete story I do here - simply because of the upload issues. I hate to keep you guys waiting.**


	22. Chapter 21

Predictably, I should have been more worried. I should have been more concerned. I should have put my foot down, as the saying goes, and insisted that Sookie stay inside my house where she was safe, or at least relatively safer. As I looked back on my decisions, I knew that would not work. I could not unilaterally make decisions, at least not when it came to Sookie's happiness. I had to yield on some decisions that allowed her to live her life, a life she had craved since vampires had entered hers. That was a lesson that I learned.

It was a lesson that I hoped would not cost me, would not cost my Sookie, and would not cost us the life I would try to ensure we had once this situation ended.

It had just become much more dangerous and much more complicated.

I knew that something was not right the second I regained my life as the sun set. Though I could not comprehend what it meant, something about the house seemed wrong. It was quiet, much quieter than it had been since my Sookie had moved in, since I had taken her in after learning what had happened.

I immediately looked inside myself to search the bonds that I shared with Pam and Sookie, those who were physically close to me. Pam's was filled with trepidation, which told me that she also felt that something was wrong. I was uncertain if she had more information than me, but I would find out after I searched my bond with Sookie.

That was when I punched the first hole in my wall.

My bond with Sookie told me nothing. It felt as though she was everywhere, like she was all around me. I felt that I could reach out and touch her, yet it also felt as if she was miles away, oceans away. She felt happy and content, and then it felt as if she was in deep despair. The bond that I created to save her, the bond I had begun to cling to would not give me any information on Sookie, on the one I loved.

A second hole soon found a place in my wall.

That was when I realized I was not alone in the house.

I quickly made my way to the kitchen knowing whom I would find there. Jason Stackhouse was in my kitchen. It appeared that he was trying to make himself something to eat, but I could smell the apprehension pouring off him. Even he was intelligent enough to sense that something was wrong. I just wondered how he knew.

"Where are they?" I asked him while I attempted to contain the anger in my voice. I was not angry with him, but if I was not careful, he would receive the brunt of it and he would not have survived.

At my question, Jason dropped whatever it was that he was holding. His head soon dropped as well. "I don't know," he said. Ordinarily, I did not think that Jason usually cared where his sister was. It seemed I had miscalculated something when it came to my wife's brother.

"What happened?" I asked him as I gripped a chair and forced myself to keep it on the floor. It matched Jason's position as he collapsed on the floor while he told me all he knew.

Sookie and Amelia had left with Tray and the other Weres soon after Sookie had finished her lunch. They had informed Jason that they would return no later than two o'clock. Jason had wanted to go along, but Sookie wanted her purchases from the art store to be a surprise.

All he knew was they had never returned. They never called; they never answered their phone calls after Jason started calling them when they were an hour late. Between Sookie's predicament and me in my day rest, Jason had no idea what else he could do. He considered calling the police, but hadn't been sure what to tell them. As much as I hated that nothing had been done for hours, I conceded that not calling the police was a wise decision. There was far too much information that we would not have been to give them.

With that news, I felt an uneasy chill wash over me. I heard everything and I saw everything, but it was as if it was miles away instead of right there before me. I knew that there was so much that I could do with this information, but it still did not stop me from feeling as if I was moving at a snail's pace.

I had chosen the worst possible time to be in a haze…

When I heard Jason mention a potential phone call to the police, it occurred to me that I should have checked my own messages. I internally berated myself for my own ignorance after I saw one missed call after another, all coming from members of Tray's Pack. A message was left by one of the members.

The only reason that my phone survived once I heard the message was, at the time, it was my form of communication of trying to determine what the hell had happened, and how the hell I could rectify it.

The message informed me that the group had been attacked, and it had been an ambush while they were driving, which meant someone knew where they were and where they were going. I had no idea if it occurred while they were driving to the art store or if when they were on their way home. I had to put that in the recess of my mind so I could use the forefront of my mind to focus on just how to locate Sookie and bring her home, to return her to me where she belonged. It was a simple battle strategy. They were outnumbered. Two of the Weres were killed, while the two others including Tray, were in the hospital, and were not expected to survive. Amelia was in dire straits as well with a head injury. It appeared as though she had fought hard, but was overpowered.

Sookie was unaccounted for, and though the Pack knew there had been a child involved, they did not know who it was. Tthey had even tried to locate said child. It became impossible, as it appeared Sookie was moved into the attacker's car. Her scent could not be followed. If any of Tray's Pack had recognized Sookie's scent, they intelligently kept it to themselves in the message.

The front door slammed open and I heard Jason, who was still in the kitchen, react to it, but I had no need. I knew who it was, and a second later I found myself both wrapped in her arms and she wrapped in mine.

"Do you know anything?" she asked after we had offered each other comfort for a minute.

"Only news of the casualties and that no one has any knowledge of what happened to Sookie," I had some ideas along with some thoughts that were likely to be proven correct.

"I am going to go to the hospital for just a little while," she told me.

"For Amelia?" I asked her, and I knew she heard the bitterness in my voice, even if I did my best to contain it.

"To see her and to give her some of my blood," she told me, which caused me to stop and give her a long look. That was not something Pam did lightly. In fact, I would not need my whole hand to count the number of times she had done so in the little over a century since I turned her. Pam shrugged as I did so, and informed me it would not have been the first time.

I had surmised as much, but had never asked my child to confirm it. "You wish to ensure her survival," I said.

She nodded and told me, "She is also our only lead we have to tell us who took Sookie. If there is any information she may be able to offer, we need her alive and conscious." I nodded, not able to deny any of her words. "I will return immediately after obtaining any information she can give to tell us what happened," she told me.

"Call first," I told her. "I may have more information and you might be of more assistance elsewhere," I explained.

She embraced me once more before she left. "This was not your fault, Eric. You tried to do the right thing. You tried to make the right decisions. That was all we could do."

"It was not enough."

"It will be. You will continue to make the decisions, the decisions that are good for her, and it will be enough."

I wished that I had my child's confidence in myself. As she left, I started to work on finding whatever information there was to find. I had the vampire I employed as a hacker looking through all surveillance that might have captured any visual footage of them today. Another was going to the art store to try to determine if they had ever arrived there. I was just about to call Thalia when my phone rang.

I will admit that a glimmer of hope flashed through me. I knew the probability of the call bringing any type of positive news concerning Sookie was low, practically nonexistent. That did not mean I still hoped I would hear her voice, either her adult one or the child one I had come to know, when I answered the phone.

Instead, I was greeted by the not so dulcet voice of the shifter and I groaned at the thought of having to tell him what had happened. My last remaining hope was that he might have some type of good news, perhaps even better at least, given that he hadn't had much to tell me the last few times he called.

I certainly had no good news to tell him.

"The scent is all over town," he told me. He never even took the time for a greeting. That was not a surprise since our calls had remained strictly professional. "It's obvious she, if it's the woman I think it is, is still in town. That makes the trails harder to follow."

"I will send help," I told him. He could help them choose the correct scent and possibly point out the freshest trails. The demon needed to be found and soon. I hated the idea that my Sookie, whatever form she might be in, was taken, but it hurt more so knowing how fragile she was currently.

"It is not needed," he replied with a growl.

"The situation has now changed," I told him. "We need this demon found as soon as possible. Yesterday would have been more than fine..."

Merlotte was quiet for a few seconds while he took in my words and pondered their meaning. "What happened?"

"Sookie was taken," I told him as I explained the little I did know.

"Do you know who has her?" he asked, and I heard the unspoken accusation in his voice.

"I have a good idea," I told him, which was the truth. I remained surprised that there had yet to be any contact with whoever had Sookie, but after I was off the phone with Merlotte, I made two phone calls. The first was to Cataliades' niece. I prayed that he was correct and that she did truly have a way to contact him, no matter where he might be.

The second was to Victor Madden in order to find out just what the fuck he thought he was doing in taking my wife. I was certain it was he. It no longer mattered to me de Castro's role in all of this. It did not matter if he had ordered it, or if he simply passively allowed Madden to make the move. Both of them would be blood on the floor after she was returned anyway.

"We need this demon found," Merlotte said to me, and I was shocked that he was not yelling, using cruel words to show his belief that all the blame for this lay with me.

For once, I would have agreed with him.

"We do. That has not changed."

"You better be doing everything to make sure she's found."

"Everything."

He hesitated before he sighed and said, "Send your help. We need to find this demon."

"Let me know of any leads you might find."

"You just better do the same," he said, hanging up on me.

The call to Desmond's niece was simple. She would relay the information to him, but warned me that although the situation was dire, I might not hear from the lawyer until tomorrow night due to the time differences among the different realms. It was a simple phone call though it left me with nothing. I considered calling Niall, but I was uncertain if that might help or hurt the situation. I would rely on Cataliades opinion for that once he was able to return my call.

My next call was not so simple. I dialed Madden's number and I did not know even for what I was hoping. If he had Sookie, he would not have hesitated to pick up the call. He would have wanted me to know; his pride would not allow it any other way. Meanwhile, if he was innocent in this case, whether or not I believed for a second that he was, he might not pick up the call.

He answered halfway through the second ring.

He said nothing, however. Instead, I heard the air as it moved over the microphone while he passed it to someone or at least that was my assumption. My assumption proved to be correct when the voice I heard coming from the phone was not the voice I had ever expected to hear.

The only reason that did not add a hole to my wall was that I did not want the person on the other side of the line to hear. I did not want to scare her, anymore than she already was.

"'Lo," she said in the way she did when she was distracted, usually due to her art.

"Sookie?" I said in more of a question than anything else. I had known. My instincts told me that Madden had taken her, but I did not expect him to allow me to talk to her. Though as I felt the ache in my chest grow stronger at hearing her voice, I thought he might have been on to something if this was designed to torture me.

If that was his plan, I was sorry to say that he was succeeding.

"Hi, Eric!" she said excitedly. I could tell that now that she realized it was me and . I had all of her attention.

"Where are you, Sookie?" I asked while I tried to keep my voice steady and calm. She did not appear frightened, which was a fortunate turn of events given what she must have witnessed hours ago.

"In a car with Uncle Victor," she told me. Her words made me shiver, not in a good way, not in the way I craved from her.

"Have you been in the car long?" I asked. I could have tried to gather a potential location with her answer. Of course, what was long to a five-year-old was something I could not possibly understand.

"Yes. This is the second car I been in. Uncle Victor took me from the men who took me from Amelia and Tray. He helped me get away from them. Are Amelia and Tray okay?" she asked suddenly, her voice filled with concern and worry.

"Pam went to go visit them," I told her. I was not willing to tell her any more, not when I was not there to offer her comfort. I hated the thought of Madden being the only one available to offer her any.

"I'm drawing them a picture. I already drewed you one. I think you're gonna love it!" she said with excitement. That was something that I could cling to. Though the situation was dire and though I hated every second of it, I could cling to the fact that she did not sound like she was in pain; she did not sound scared.

"I know I will," I told her just as I heard Madden as he asked for the phone back.

"I gots to go. Uncle Victor needs to talk to you."

I hated the fact that the phone call would end the small connection I had with her now. I had technology in my phone that was tracking the call and I held out some small hope, but I was not expecting it to be able to give me any pertinent information.

"I love you, Sookie," I told her quickly. I needed her to hear the words; I needed her to hear them from me.

"I love you too, Eric," she told me before I again heard the movement of air over the microphone of the phone. The words did nothing loosen the tightness that had taken over my chest. If anything, they made it worse.

"How sweet," Madden said snidely when he took over the phone call.

"You signed your own death warrant, Madden," I promised him; I was not even attempting to hide it. He had to know I would be coming after him aggressively given what he had done.

All I received in return was triumphant laughter.

"Children are quite impressionable at this age, don't you agree?" he asked. I remained silent while he continued speaking. "So impressionable and it is up to those who raise them to ensure they receive the correct lessons while they grow, lessons that might inspire them to please those who have raised them, and to be loyal to those same ones who raised them."

That fucking bastard! There was no way that he would ever spend enough time with Sookie, enough time with anything before I turned to him sludge and goo to teach _them_ _their_ lessons. I would make more than certain of that.

"If you dare to lay one hand one her," I began.

"I know, I know. You will make my end such a painful one. Can you hear just how nervous I feel? You are powerful, Eric, yet you are not and never will be powerful enough to take on a kingdom, to take on several kingdoms. You might survive this by relinquishing any misleading thoughts you still have of getting her back. All you need is to play the dutiful Sheriff and forget all about her. She need not ever have to suffer. She will grow into an adult who will be most loyal and grateful to our King. You might even get to see her again one day."

I had no idea if he believed his words might actually cause me to cease and desist with my plans, but the affect they made was quite the opposite. I would never permit Sookie to become fully grown in close proximity to Madden. I would find this demon and bring to an end to the curse. Then I would find my Sookie and return her to our home. I would do all everything within my power to make things right between us.

Madden's and de Castro's blood would be fertilizing the ground where it landed.

"Enjoy whatever time you might have left, Victor. It will not be as much as you might want to believe."

"Oh, I have a feeling I will be enjoying the little blond before me for much longer than you ever had the chance," he said in response before he ended the call. That was a conversation ending that my phone, unfortunately, did not survive.

I went immediately to my office, contacted Bobby, and informed him I needed a replacement phone immediately. As Jason would have said, I needed it like yesterday! I then made a few more phone calls. I had a call into Pam who was still at the hospital. Amelia had regained consciousness after being given Pam's blood, but she was still somewhat confused over the events. She remembered being attacked. She remembered she started a spell, but could not recall anything more. That would change, with hope, as Pam's blood worked in her system.

Amelia also asked Pam to give her blood to Tray. I knew that however casual my child was with the witch, it was not an easy decision. She did it, however, and though his vitals were stronger, he had not yet awakened.

The other Were had passed away about an hour ago.

Pam asked if I needed her at my house, but I sent her to Fangtasia instead. I wanted her and Thalia to review every second of security video we had when Sookie was reading those two men. That was a vulnerable time for her; it was also a vulnerable time for us. We had to have missed something.

How had Madden known where she would be?

He had not seemed the least bit surprised that she was in the form or mindset of a child. How was that possible?

If there were a traitor, he would meet the same fate as Madden and de Castro. If there was no traitor, I needed to discover just how Madden was receiving all of his information. I doubted we would see her again, but Pam and Thalia had the instructions to capture Madden's spy should she appear. That was where we would start when or if the moment presented itself.

Once Pam had received her directives, I placed several more phone calls to contacts I had in Arkansas, and my contacts I had in Nevada. I had to know where they stood once I made my move. I would be acting regardless; I simply needed to know how many might be standing in between De Castro and me. There was no question they would all be finally dead before the king. I was going to end him and those who stood in my way.

I made plans with Alcide and his Pack, as well as Tray's who sought revenge, and they would be my eyes and ears during the day. I gave them what little I had to start with and they had a plan to retrace their steps, find out where the abduction had taken place, and to work from there.

I had accomplished much this evening, but it still felt as if I had done nothing, and what I had done had not been enough. My Sookie would not be in my arms tonight, in either form. Still, my time was limited and for this evening, it was nearly complete.

I cursed the sun while I felt it rise. It prevented me in my task of continuing to attempt in finding my Sookie. It prevented the hunting down of Victor Madden to send him to his final death. I felt as though I was being held a prisoner by that glowing orb of fire in the sky.

That was when the third hole in my wall appeared.

I had to focus on what I did have, little as it was. I did have those who would be working to locate her throughout the day, even as de Castro and Madden had those who could work in the sun as well. They had proven so today. Something would have to go my way; _it just had to_. One of my allies would discover something most important, and I would have my target upon arising that night. Those were the thoughts I needed to concentrate on at that time.

As much I tried, I just could not keep the negative thoughts from creeping into my mind. The situation would have been terrible enough if Sookie was her age-appropriate self. She was a child, a five-year-old little girl with no information regarding what was going on around her. She had been ripped out of the only life she ever knew. I did not even want to consider what they might have been attempting to do with her at that moment.

Nevertheless, of course, that was where my thoughts traveled.

And those produced the fourth and final hole in my wall for the evening.

I did not punch anymore because in the last few seconds before the sun rose I could not stop the tears that streamed down my face. It seemed as if the fog I had to work through all night was lifted, and all that was left was the truth of the situation. What a painful truth it was! Tears that I had kept holding in all night fell uncontrollably. Tears for what the little girl who was my wife was going through. Tears at the thought of the tortures my wife, the woman I loved, might be suffering.

The tears came and I could not stop them. I never even tried while the sun forced me to day death.

 **About my wordpress account, I am there under the same name. FF doesn't allow outside links but if you search wordpress and jc52185 or wordpress and any story titles you should find it. This one is completed there and it has my previous stories and my next story. If you find me there, let me know what you think. This will most likely be the last story I post in it's entirety here simply because it has gotten so difficult to upload work here.**

 **We knew Victor was up to something. Now, we just have to hope that Eric can figure out how to get her back, unharmed. I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **I don't know if I'll be able to get another one up next weekend. Getting a bit closer to the end on this one and trying to finish it for you without too many breaks.**

 **Much thanks to MsBuffy for her work and her patience.**

 **About my wordpress account, I am there under the same name. FF doesn't allow outside links but if you search wordpress and jc52185 or wordpress and any story titles you should find it. This one is completed there and it has my previous stories and my next story. If you find me there, let me know what you think.**


	23. Chapter 22

I woke with my face stiff from blood tears that dried on it the previous evening, not the most pleasant feeling, but certainly not the worst that I was experiencing at that time. I probed the bond as soon as I arose and was able to fool myself for a second. In that one second, Sookie was there beside me. Sookie was safe in that moment. She was feeling great happiness. With the mixed up feelings I received through our bond, I was able to delude myself.

Then my delusion crashed when Sookie soon felt thousands of miles away and no longer felt as though she was happy. I no longer wanted to remember what I felt after I was unable to delude myself. At that feeling, the delusion was not the only thing that crashed.

I quickly scanned through the emails sent with the updates regarding our situation. No evidence was discovered that Sookie had been taken out of the country. That was a positive note. However, there was also no evidence that told us whether Madden had taken her out of the state. That information was actually less promising. I could not have imagined a scenario where Madden might keep her in Louisiana, despite the control he and de Castro had over the state. If signs were missed that she removed from the state, then any proof that existed they had taken her out of the country could have been missed as well.

The only other explanation was that Madden was even more arrogant than I had given him credit for and he stayed local.

There was one person from whom I did not receive an update. Desmond Cataliades had yet to contact me. I had no idea in which realm he might be nor did I know how time worked where he was. I might get word from him in seconds that would be like more like several nights to him, or it could be only seconds for him and nights for me. If I did not get any word from him by sunrise, by the next night I had planned to start searching for him.

With the daytime search party's primary reports for the evening, I sent updated directives for those who were taking over the nighttime search. Alcide refused to stop looking through the night. I persuaded him to agree to a short break so that they he would be of some use tomorrow during the day. He was one of the only ones whom I trusted to lead the daytime search, especially with Cataliades out of reach. He may have wanted more than Sookie was willing to give him, though that would never happen, but I still knew he would do whatever he could to get her home.

I went to Fangtasia after my shower. It seemed that throughout the day, the search party for Sookie had used it as a headquarters of sorts. That was fine with me. I was relieved to find the information was centralized and that the different Supernatural and human groups had worked together. It gave the false sense that we had accomplished something, as we still had no real meaningful information.

Amelia had come to the bar after having had called Pam to give an update on Tray's condition. He was more coherent of his current situation, but remained unclear over the events of the past. Amelia asked if I had any information, and the disappointment was clear on her face when I had to tell her I had none. She did surprise me when she said, "You'll get her back. You will make sure she comes back to us safely."

I was aware that the witch had never been fond of me, going as far as even encouraging Sookie to have nothing more to do with me. I had no clue what to make of her sudden shift although it was something that I could appreciate.

Cataliades still had not called.

That thought was the one on my mind when my phone finally did ring. I was so astounded finding that the attorney was calling. I had all but given up on the phone call, preparing to send someone on a search for him.

"What took you so long?" I growled once I answered his call.

"I just received the message and returned your call immediately," he replied. His answer did very little to console me. With Sookie's kidnapping, I needed the demon accessible. I needed him to help me now more than ever.

I needed to hold on tightly to whatever I could that might help me to feel that all was not lost. The moment I succumbed to that feeling was the moment it would prove truthful. I refused to believe it. I adamantly refused to believe Sookie was lost to me, no matter her form.

"Victor took Sookie," I told him.

"What!" Cataliades exclaimed. It was not a question although being absorbed by my own anger left me with having a hard time in even distinguishing the words that came out of my own mouth. "How?" he asked, and I understood that word was actually a question. I explained the little that I knew.

"Scents were completely muddled by the time anyone located where the abduction took place. We were unable to ascertain how many actually attacked the group. Alcide said he recognized a scent or two from dealings with Nevada, but Tray would certainly know more. Unfortunately, he is still not cognizant enough to answer our questions with any type of clarity."

In truth, with his head injury, he was fortunate to be alive, even when Pam gave him her blood. It was enough to stabilize him, to assist him in regaining consciousness, yet not enough to have healed him to the point where he could give us the crucially needed answers to our questions over all that had gone wrong. Pam would be giving him more of her blood later in the evening under the care of Dr. Ludwig. With any hope, that might allow us to get the answers we so desperately needed.

"We must get her back," he told me.

"That much is obvious," was my sardonic response to his ludicrous sentence. Of course, we needed to get my Sookie back! All I had to do was to determine a plan in which I could manage to find a way that would not be detrimental to her, not hurt her in any physical way, and most importantly, not hurt her in her current fragile state.

"I could allow myself to be captured," he suggested without hesitation. Though I greatly appreciated his willingness to do just that, it made me question his motivations behind it. Was it really that he was simply close to Fintan, or was there something more than that driving him? I had to leave that thought for another night, however; my only concern was getting Sookie back safely.

Again, while I appreciated Cataliades' offer, I did not believe it was the best course of action. "There would be no guarantee that you would be held in the same location as Sookie, no guarantee that you would even be in the same state as she," I told him. "I need you here. I need that demon found. I need someone who can communicate with the Fae. I need someone," I paused for a second to catch myself, "I need someone who cares for her, someone who cares, and someone who knows with what they are dealing." I may not have completely understood why Cataliades felt such a strong connection to Sookie, but it was not something I would deny, not when he could assist in returning her to me.

"Niall would want to be informed of this," Cataliades said once I mentioned the Fae.

"He will want to know only when he wants to know," I responded, and that was what seemed to be the truth. He had yet to contact either one of us in response to our initial attempt to reach him.

"You speak the truth of most situations. This is one, a move of what might be seen as an act against the Fae, and he would want to be informed immediately."

"He would attack; not necessarily showing concern for the life of his great-granddaughter, but to make it understood that a move against him would be a threat." There was no doubt in my mind that Niall cared for Sookie, however, the Fae are unique creatures. Though they will defend their kin to the death, it is only when it suits their own purposes, their own agenda. I had no doubt that should Niall discover de Castro and Madden had taken Sookie that he would launch an attack against them. I also had little doubt that he would make his point, that to move against the Fae is most deadly and at one's own peril, but the well-being of his great-granddaughter would not be his top priority when he did attack.

"Would he be able to launch something?" I asked Desmond. I knew that there was still recovery occurring in response to the Fae War. I was uncertain how that might affect his ability to attack Madden. I was hoping he would be crippled enough to need to contact me and we could go in together. My priority would be to ensure Sookie's safety; ending Madden and de Castro were secondary for me, a close second, but second nonetheless.

"It would be foolish of him to go in without support," was the demon's response. I felt marginally better once I had heard that. Niall was many things, but foolish was not a word one could ever associate with the Prince. He would turn to me, and together we would launch an assault on Madden. Niall and his people could lead the portion of the party that would focus on the violence aimed at Madden. I could lead my people on the quest to return my Sookie home safely. Any violence that happened along that mission would be a much-welcomed bonus.

"I will contact him directly though it may be another evening or two before I have a response for you in your time."

I was not happy when the attorney told me that, but unfortunately, I found myself left with no choice. Once again, my hands were tied. I had no way to interfere with a time difference between different realms. No one did. To even attempt such a thing could mean complete destruction for them all with the barriers being so precarious.

That fact only served to anger me more.

With little time left until sunrise, I needed to leave and return to my home. I trusted everyone who was assisting me, yet that did not suggest I wanted to be appear helpless with everyone coming in and out of the bar. Pam was going to her house, having convinced Amelia to get some rest.

When I rose the next evening, I went straight to Fangtasia. There I met with Pam and Thalia as we reviewed the little we knew. There was still no evidence that suggested Madden had left the state with Sookie, and he had yet to be seen in either Nevada or Arkansas. I doubted he had remained in the state. I just did not know where he could go that he would have the support he needed to succeed with this. The day and the majority of the evening's time provided no clues to where Madden had taken Sookie.

Tray's condition had improved, but he still remembered nothing specific about the attack. It was all a blur to him, as he described it. Ludwig was convinced that it was only temporary which came as a great relief to the wolf. It was not as great for Sookie's situation.

With nothing going my way, I had no good expectations in calling Madden once I returned home. I was certain that I would hear his snide words when he answered my phone calls. I should have known by then to not make any assumptions. They always seemed to be incorrect.

The truth was more catastrophic.

Instead of a gloating Victor, it was the voice of Sookie that I heard when the phone was answered. Sookie, however, did not sound the same as she had when I had spoken to her the night before last. That was a Sookie who was unaware that anything bad had happened to her. That was a Sookie who was joyfully making pictures for us.

This was not a happy Sookie who was on the phone with me.

"'Lo," she said. She sounded more like her brother than her usual jovial self.

"Sookie?"

"Eric," she said, but not even hearing my voice could completely restore her mood.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. I did not want to frighten her, but I needed to hear her response to my question. Had something happened? Had Madden dared to lay a finger on her? Or was she simply upset because he was not allowing her to color or because he wanted her to eat corn?

I hoped she was eating and I hoped she was eating healthy food.

"I want to come back home, Eric," she said. I could picture the way her lip quivered when she took on that tone. She was trying to hold in her tears. She was not the only one trying to do so. Her tears I could take; they would break a place inside of me, but I could take them for the duration of the phone call.

I did not want to make her suffer through mine.

"You will, Sookie. You will be back home with me before you know it."

"I knew I wanted to be home with you two nights ago," she whined, as she was no longer holding back her tears. "I already know it," she said, sniffling. I detested seeing the green substance that came out of Sookie's nose, mostly because I did not like she was so upset that she was crying. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked in the smallest voice I had ever heard coming out of her.

That was when I felt the tears running down my face. I could no longer hold them back, but I was determined they not be heard in my voice, not be heard by Sookie. She was going through her own pain; I would not put her through mine.

I would have done anything to take it off her shoulders.

"What will we do after you return home?" I asked her as I tried anything to do I could to send her back to some kind of happy thought.

"Can we go flying?" she asked me, though her voice sounded no less depressed.

"Every night," I told her.

"And color?"

"Of course."

"And games?"

"Any game you want."

"Even Candyland?"

I despised the melted chocolate character, but I would play that game over and over again, night after night, if I were just given the opportunity. "Even Candyland."

"Can we go fishing? Jason and I came to this lake before with Daddy," She started to say something else, but the phone call suddenly ended. I immediately called back, but the call did not connect. Instead, it went straight to the recording that told me to leave a message.

I dialed the number again and repeatedly over the next five minutes. Every call ended in the same manner, a recording of the number I had dialed and the instructions to leave a message. No one was answering the phone call.

That made me nervous. That made me very nervous, especially as I considered what Sookie had said. She had given me an important piece of information. I could only hope that Jason could supply me with the vital piece of information Sookie did not.

I quickly moved to my living room where I knew the elder Stackhouse was. I immediately cornered him and demanded to know where he had gone fishing with his father and sister when he was younger.

"The lake. The lake in my backyard," he told me and I could sense that he was nervous. I had never approached him in this way before. I had never had good reason. Sookie was a good enough reason, but I would get no information from Jason if he were too nervous to actually communicate to me what he knew.

"Did you ever go on a trip to a lake that was further away? Did you ever travel to fish with Sookie and your father?"

"Yeah. We went to another lake for a weekend a few times. 'Bout four hours away. Why?"

I wanted to wrap my hands around his neck for not simply answering the question. I had to collect myself though as he did not know why the innocuous information was suddenly so vital.

I briefly told him why I was looking for the information. He immediately questioned me about the conversation, but I pushed my own question back at him. I would give him the limited information about the phone call I shared with his sister, but I needed to know where it was that Sookie might possibly be. The phone call ended as soon as she spoke the words, so she was not alone. If Madden believed I knew her location, he could have easily ordered that she needed moved. I had to ensure that did not happen.

There were a few major lakes in Louisiana spread out through the state. I would have set up my people at each one, but if Stackhouse knew at which lake they went fishing, it would have allowed me to focus on just that one.

Jason focused as soon as I mentioned his sister. I had to give him credit for that. The fact that he was thinking was evident on his face. "The last time we went was about a year before they died," he said, talking himself through his thought process. That was fine with me as long as he could tell me where they had gone. "I was probably 'bout eight or nine. Lake Cedo or… it was something with a 'C.' I remember a 'C' on the sign."

"Cedar?" I asked him as my mind quickly sorted through the lakes that fit his vague description. "Was it Lake Cedar?"

He smiled before he jumped up and said, "That's it. That's the one!"

With that response, I knew why we had not yet found Madden. We were not looking in the correct state. With that information, the list of those who would be finally ended once this was all said and done grew as well.

Lake Cedar was a lake about four hours from Bon Temps. It was a lake that was in the state of Oklahoma. The Queen of Oklahoma, Freyda, would not survive this either. I had no idea what her role in this was, but by simply having allowed Madden sanctuary, she had signed her own death warrant.

With that information, I very quickly placed several calls once Jason went to bed. I called only trusted vampires in the Area where the Lake was located. They could not confirm that Madden had been in the Area, but I trusted them to make certain he did not leave it if he was there.

When they asked if I wanted them to approach the lake, I answered no. Though every inch of me wanted to fly there immediately, the evening had gotten away from me. It was at least a thirty-minute flight and there was only fifteen minutes until sunrise. I once again cursed the dreaded sun.

Instead I began to put everything in motion. We would be launching an attack the following evening. It was an attack that I needed to be certain Madden did not survive and one in which I needed to ensure that Sookie would not suffer any injuries. If de Castro were present, he would not make it out alive or alive as one might classify a vampire. If he were not present, I would hunt him down and end him as soon as possible. They would both pay for this. Damn the consequences.

I had just placed my phone on my nightstand and was preparing for my day rest when it rang again. I immediately answered and was shocked when I heard the shifter's voice on the other line ask, "Did you find Sookie?"

"Sam?" I asked once I had determined who was speaking.

"Did you find her?" he repeated. I explained what I discovered that evening. "I have even more good news then," he told me.

"I found the demon."

 **And that's good news right? It's got to be, right? Well, I do hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Should be back to regular weekly updates as we start to wind this one down. Have a great week.**

 **Thanks to MsBuffy for her help and patience!**

 **Again, just want to remind everyone that I am getting chapters up as soon as I can. For reasons I cannot figure out, FF is hit or miss with allowing me to upload new chapter ever since I updated my OS. This one is almost over with 29 chapters and an epilogue and I will update here whenever I am able. If you cannot possibly wait it is completed - and my next one up and 21 chapters in - at wordpress. I am there under the same name.**


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